No one argues since the energy future goes through fossil fuels. Solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, mareomotor and biomass energies, among others, offer clean and inexhaustible sources, or at least that repeat us as a mantra the official speeches. But there is an uncomfortable truth that is rarely mentioned In large climatic forums: to capture that renewable energy we need technologies made of materials that are far from being ecological or infinite. This fundamental contradiction is turning the so longed for energy transition into a new era of dependence, inequality and increasing conflicts due to critical and strategic resources.
Let’s think of a modern wind park. Those mills that adorn our landscapes contain tons of permanent magnets made with rare earths, a group of chemical elements whose extraction and refined are extraordinarily polluting. China, which controls 90% of the market, has converted the province of Interior Mongolia into a lunar landscape of toxic rafts where these minerals are processed. Each megawatt of installed wind power requires about 200 kilos of these strategic materials whose reserves are not infinite.
The same goes for solar energy, that icon of sustainability. Photovoltaic panels depend on high purity silicon, whose refining consumes huge amounts of energyand from La Plata, a precious metal whose price has been shot precisely for its massive use in the renewable industry. It is estimated that by 2027 solar manufacturers could absorb 20% of world silver production, directly competing with sectors such as jewelry or medical electronics.
Energy storage raises even more complex dilemmas. The ion-lithium batteries that feed our electric cars and store renewable energy depend on materials such as cobalt, mostly extracted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in working conditions frequently denounced by humanitarian organizations. Lithium, presented as the oil of the 21st century, requires for extraction Evapora millions of liters of water in regions already arid as the Salar de Atacama, where local communities denounce the exhaustion of their aquifers.
This dependence on critical materials creates new geopolitical vulnerabilities. While Europe congratulates itself to reduce its dependence on Russian gas, it has transferred that vulnerability to other equally strategic materials. Today we import 98% of our rare earths from China, 78% of the lithium of Chile and Australia and practically our cobalt of the Congo. We have only changed masters in our thirst for energy.
The paradox is painful: to save the planet from climate change We are willing to sacrifice other ecosystems In distant producing countries. Open pit mines, refined pollutant processes and conflicts over control of these resources are the dark side of technologies that we sell as clean. It is not, of course, to give up renewables, but to honestly face their material limitations. There are hopeful paths, although they require political will and financing determined to advance with justice.
The recycling of these critical materials progresses slowly – today we only recover 10% of the old solar panels – but could become an urban mine of enormous value. Innovation in materials such as batteries without cobalt or panels without silver It begins to bear fruit. And the search for deposits in countries with strict environmental regulations, such as lithium projects in Portugal or Germany, could reduce our impacts.
True sustainability does not simply consist of changing energy sources, but in rethinking our unfortunate consumption. No technology will save us if we are not able to question our insatiable appetite of resources. Renewable energies are undoubtedly necessary, but they will not be enough if they are not accompanied by an equally deep revolution in how we obtain, use and reuse the materials that make them possible. The future is not only decarbonized or not, but it must also be circular, fair, equitable or will not be sustainable.
While we are proud of new wind and lots, it would be necessary to remember that There is no truly clean energy if your supply chain is still stained with exploitation and pollution. The energy transition will only have triumphed when it is also a fair and responsible mineral transition. Meanwhile, we will continue to dance on the paradox of renewable energies that depend on increasingly scarce and difficult to obtain without damage.
By Joan Escuer, geologist and professor at the Carlemany University.