<mix...@bigpond.com> wrote:
> >0.170 ppm. Granted, it is a lot more abundant than copper, nickel, gold or > >palladium. > > At the current rate of World energy usage, and assuming only 33% conversion > efficiency (i.e. 6 MeV / Li atom), that would last us for 34 million years. > Do you mean that is how long the supply in the ocean would last? That is not a valid method. As you extract lithium from the ocean and the concentration goes down, it would get harder and harder to extract more. It isn't as if you move all the water in world from one bowl to another as you extract the lithium. I guess you would start to see a decrease after a million years or so. By that time, extraterrestrial sources should be available. Heck, I expect they will be available in a few hundred years, or sooner. I hope that all extraction and manufacturing moves off-earth, with delivery by space elevator. Or by anti-gravity flying machines. Something quiet, and much safer than rockets. - Jed
