Rare Earth elementsRare Earth metals: Will we have enough?

Life in the twenty-first century would not be the same without rare Earth metals. Cell phones, iPads, laptops, televisions, hybrid cars, wind turbines, solar cells, and many more products depend on rare Earth metals to function. Will there be enough for us to continue our high-tech lifestyle and transition to a renewable energy economy? Do we need to turn to deep seabed or asteroid mining to meet future demand?

“To provide most of our power through renewables would take hundreds of times the amount of rare Earth metals that we are mining today,” said Thomas Graedel, Clifton R. Musser Professor of Industrial Ecology and professor of geology and geophysics at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

A Columbia University release reports that there is no firm definition of rare Earth metals, but the term generally refers to metals used in small quantities. Rare Earth metals include: rare Earth elements — seventeen elements in the periodic table, the fifteen lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium; six platinum group elements; and other byproduct metals that occur in copper, gold, uranium, phosphates, iron or zinc ores. While many rare Earth metals are actually quite common, they are seldom found in sufficient amounts to be extracted economically.

According to a recent Congressional Research Service report, world demand for rare Earth metals is estimated to be 136,000 tons per year, and projected to rise to at least 185,000 tons annually by 2015. With continued global growth of the middle class, especially in China, India, and Africa, demand will continue to grow. High-tech products and renewable energy technology cannot function without rare Earth metals. Neodymium, terbium and dysprosium are essential ingredients in the magnets of wind turbines and computer hard drives; a number of rare Earth metals are used in nickel-metal-hydride rechargeable batteries that power electric vehicles and many other products; yttrium is necessary for color TVs, fuel cells, and fluorescent lamps; europium is a component of compact fluorescent bulbs and TV and iPhone screens; cerium and lanthanum are used in catalytic converters; platinum group metals are needed as catalysts in fuel cell technology; and other rare Earth metals are essential for solar cells, cell phones, computer chips, medical imaging, jet engines, defense technology, and much more.

Wind power has grown around 7 percent a year, increasing by a factor of 10 over the last decade, noted Peter Kelemen, Arthur D. Storke Memorial Professor of