Why Rare Earth Elements Matter for the Environment

7/31/2019 Why Rare Earth Elements Matter for the Environment

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Why Rare Earth Elements Matter for TheEnvironmentI feel that one of the most important single pieces of information at

this moment in history is that the entire sustainable energy and

post-carbon movement is pinned to a group of elements that are notmined in any significant quantityoutside of China,a country that isexpected to cease exporting them within 5 years.

Rare earth elements are critical materials for the ongoing development of a wide variety ofgreen technologies, ranging form electric automobiles to wind power generators, energy

efficient CF light bulbs, and the hand held communication devices that are rapidly replacingliterally millions of trees that have been consumed to provide daily news and information inprint form. Future availability of certain REEs may constitute the singlegreatest

vulnerabilityin the fight to build environmentally sustainable technologies and to reduceglobal CO2 output and pollution. This page,through a comparisonof coal based electricpower generation and REE dependent wind power generation technology,explores one

example of just how significant the difference is between traditional technologies and themodern 'green' alternatives that are replacing them. It is not my intention, through thispage, to criticise the historical role of the coal industry or coal power technology, but ratherto point out the opportunities inherent in modern, ecologically appropriate technology. In

fact, when I began this project, I had no idea how dramatic the results of the comparison

would be. Coal was, for many years, the best available option for getting electricity to themasses, but it came with appreciable environmental and health trade offs. Modern

technologies will also have trade offs, and nothing is perfect. Nevertheless, when we canclearly do better, we should.

How Green is Green?

Comparing the Environmental Impacts of Wind Power andCoal Power

Robert E. Beauford, April 16, 2011

1. Introduction

Technological change to more sustainable technologies does not eliminate the need for ongoing

environmental responsibility. Any form of power generation will involve compromises with the environment.

Facilities require a physical area of land upon which to be erected, metals and other construction materials

with which to be assembled, materials to build and maintain wires for power distribution, and so on. This is

true regardless of the fundamental technology employed. In order to better understand both the

environmental costs and benefits of a post carbon energy infrastructure, a quantitative comparison of the

environmental impacts of coal and wind power generation was undertaken. The specific question addressedis as follows: When compared in real human health and environmental terms, how beneficial is the change

to wind power versus traditional coal based power generation? In addition, this study examines the question

Is wind power a realistic answer to future electrical energy needs?

Wind power generation has been an economically viable alternative to more historically dominant electrical

generation processes since the mid to late 1990s. In the few years since the beginning of its expansion in

the marketplace, wind energy has emerged as not only the fastest growing green energy technology, but as

the fastest growing technology within the energy sector as a whole, including traditional sources. In just a


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few years, it has grown to represent almost 2 percent of global power consumption, and has been doubling

in installed generation capacity about every 3 years.2

Coal power, by contrast, is the oldest and currently largest electrical power generation technology employed

at an industrial level today. Coal provided about 54% of US electrical power in 2009, and is the single

largest air polluter in the US.1

2. Scope of Comparison

The intention of this study was to examine the environmental impact of each technology in an operational

phase. As a result, only brief and sporadic attention has been given to setup costs of generation facilities.

The focus is on ongoing resource consumption, emissions, and environmental and human impacts during the

operational, or power generating, phase of the facilities for each technology. Regional scope is primarily

limited to the US, due to the ready availability of data. This introduces some possibly non-negligible biases,

since emissions standards, age of generation facilities, installed emissions controls, and employed

technologies may vary substantially for different world regions. The differences were not examined. Also,

despite the assumption of basic equivalence in facility maintenance, setup, and so on in this survey, facility

construction cannot truly be equated for coal and wind power generation facilities. Coal power plants require

an entire mine infrastructure, railroad facilities, and substantial water supply infrastructure in addition to

actual power generation facilities.

For purposes

of comparison, a typical coal fired electrical power generation facility will be assumed to be a 500 megawatt

(MW) coal plant. This is not accurate in terms of actual average output of generation facilities in the US, but

is an accepted and consistent norm in all literature that was reviewed. There were, as of 2010, 594

operating coal power plants in the US.3

They range in capacity from less than 100 MW to about 3000MW,

though the largest of these represent a very small number of plants.4 The average capacity of US coal fired

power plants is about 667MW, or about 1/3 larger than the typical plant used for comparative purposes.5,6


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There are, as of yet, no typical wind power plants. Most are in the 100MW to 800MW range. A 20 thousandmegawatt facility has been proposed and is in the initial phases of construction in China. Wind power

projects, called wind farms are often unit scalable, and unlike coal fired power stations, may be expanded

slowly and steadily over time.

3. Results

Ongoing Consumable Inputs

A typical coal fired power generation facility requires the annual availability of about 2.2 billion gallons of

water.1 Coal power generation is the second largest consumer of water in the US, following only agriculture

in demand.7 In addition, a plant requires about 1.4 million tons of coal to remain in operation, and will

require approximately permanent storage for about .14 million tons of toxic solid non-combustiblewastes.1,8 A substantially larger permanent storage location is required per year for the deposit of up to 14

million tons of overburden removed in order to gain access to fuel. This last number is highly variable,

ranging from as little as a few million tons to well over 25 million tons of waste rock per plant per year.

Wind power has no ongoing consumable inputs beyond facility maintenance.

CO2 Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Typical U.S. coal fired power plants annually emit about 3.7 million tons of CO2 each,1 not including

emissions form mining or transport of fuel. This is the largest single industry source of greenhouse gas

emissions, both in America and in the world. Globally, coal combustion generates about 20% of all CO2

emissions, and in America it represents over 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions combined.9

If mining and

transport emissions are combined with power generation emission, the US figure is closer to 30% of total

greenhouse gas emissions.10

Wind power generation produces no CO2 or other greenhouse gas emissions.

Acid Gas Emissions

About 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide are produced by each typical U.S. coal fired power plant each year, as

well as substantial quantities of hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, and other acid gasses.1

Coal power

generation is responsible for about 65% of all US sulfur dioxide emissions.11 SO2 and other acid gasses not

only contribute to acid rain, but also directly attack respiratory health, damaging lung tissue and increasing


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the likelihood of both lung and heart disease.12 In China, the World Bank has estimated that over 50,000

annual deaths are directly attributable to coal power generation, out of about 650,000 deaths attributed to

pollution, and that over 400,000 new cases of chronic bronchitis are directly attributable to acid gas and

particulate coal plant emissions.13

In the US, though the majority of coal power plants still employ no acid

gas reduction technology, SO2 emissions have substantially declined since the early 1980s, largely due to

the elimination of high sulfur coal as generation fuel.14 This reduction illustrates the effectiveness of Federal

environmental enforcement in protecting public health, and encourages more of the same.

Wind power

generation, by contrast, produces no acid gas emissions.

Airborne Particulate Emissions

A typical US coal fired power plant emits about 500 tons of small airborne particles annually.1These

particles, which are primarily composed of unburned or non-combustible remnants of power plant fuel, can

be transported substantial distances by wind. Because many of these particles are small enough to pass

directly into the bloodstream through the lungs, the effects on public health can be significant.15

In addition

to substantially elevated incidence of chronic bronchitis, asthma, and heart attacks (38,000/year), between

23,000 and 30,000 annual US deaths are attributable to these particulate coal emissions.15,16,17 The

cumulative negative health effects of coal particulate emissions is roughly quantifiable in terms of hospital

admissions (21,850 per year), emergency room visits (26,000 per year), and lost work days (3,186,000 per

year).15 In addition, black carbon, which is largely coal power plant particulates, has emerged as a

substantial climate change factor, and is contributing substantially to global ice mass loss due to a lesseningof reflectivity of glaciers and ice sheets.18

Wind power generation results in no measurable particulate emissions. Large fragments of windmill blades,

however, are occasionally lost and flung for appreciable distances. This is primarily due to people shooting at

them.

Nitrogen Oxide (NO(x)), Carbon Monoxide, Hydrocarbons, and Other ToxicEmissions


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A typical US coal fired power plant annually produces 10,200 tons of nitrogen oxide, 720 tons of carbon

monoxide, 220 tons of hydrocarbons, and 76 other known toxic air pollutants not previously mentioned in

this report.1,19 Overall air pollution from coal plants is greater than from any other industrial

source.19

Interactions between many of these chemicals are poorly or not at all understood. Nitrogen oxide

emissions from a single plant are equivalent to the annual output from 500,000 modern cars.1 Coal power is

the second largest nitrogen oxide emitter in the US after automobiles. NO(x) emissions damage lung tissue

directly and are a major contributor to the formation of ozone, which causes further respiratory illness.20,21

Itshould be noted that the formation of near surface ozone as a pollutant is entirely bad for people and the

environment, and does nothing to replace or contribute to the upper atmospheric ozone upon which we

depend for existence on this planet.

Wind power generation produces no nitrogen oxide or related emissions.

Mercury, Heavy Metals and Radionuclides

US coal fired

power plants are the largest contributors to mercury pollution in the nation24,25, producing about 170 pounds

of airborne mercury per typical plant per year.1 Very low levels of mercury exposure produces significant

negative health effects in children exposed during fetal development, infancy, or early childhood. A single

event of exposure to relatively small levels of mercury can produce a lifetime drop in IQ of 5 points.

Researchers have found blood concentrations of mercury adequate to pose a significant threat to infants in

about 1 out of every 6 US women.22,23,24

In addition to mercury, coal power plants emit significant quantities

of arsenic, lead, cadmium, and several other dangerous metals.26,27 While 225 lbs. of arsenic emitted

annually from a typical coal power plant may seem an insignificant amount, exposure to only 50 parts per

billion of arsenic in drinking water has been found to produce cancer in 1 out of 100 people.27

It is interesting to note that a single typical US coal fired electric power plant also emits an amount of

uranium and thorium that is roughly equivalent to the airborne emission from all US nuclear power plants

combined. Surprisingly, this amount is still so close to background radiation levels that no resulting health

risk has been documented.28,8

Wind power generation produces no heavy metal or radionuclide emissions.


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Ensuring a Fair Comparison

In order to be sure that this is a fair examination of the comparative environmental impacts of

coal and wind power generation, examination of the specific suspected negative environmental

impacts of wind power generation should also be undertaken. A substantive search of existing

literature produces only two accusations of negative environmental or health impacts from wind

power generation. These, along with some of the known impacts of coal power generation arelisted below. The following two section will address these wind related issues: affects on

wildlife, and affects on communities adjacent to the generation facilities.

Coal Power, Environmental Problems

Strip Mining and Permanent Habitat Loss Overburden Disposal from Mountaintop Removal Toxic Coal Ash and Sludge Disposal Surface/Subsurface Water Contamination from Runoff Waste Heat in Surface Waterways CO2 Emissions to the Atmosphere Lead, Mercury, Arsenic, Etc. Emissions Uranium and Thorium Emissions Carbon Monoxide and Ozone Emissions Airborne Particulate Emissions Acidic Gasses (Dioxide, Chloride, Fluoride) Direct Health Effects on Miners Etc..

Wind Power

Bird and Bat Deaths People are annoyed by

the swish.

Effects on Wildlife (Including Birds and Bats)

Effects on wildlife, from coal power generation, are widespread and profound. Along with 2.2 billion gallons

of water drawn in to the typical US coal plant each year, comes about 21 million fish eggs and juvenile fish

which are destroyed. As many as 1.5 million adult fish are trapped against intake screens, though many of

these survive the experience.1 Fuel production, through coal mining, is astoundingly destructive to the

landscape and to habitat. Uncounted wildlife of all types are destroyed.30,31 Unlike most human activities

that damage or reduce carrying capacity of a habitat area, when it is said that habitat is destroyed by

surface mining for coal, the phrase is truly accurate. In West Virginia, a common method of accessing and

mining coal is referred to as mountain top removal and valley fill.32,33 The process is exactly what it sounds

like, and has resulted, in that state alone, in the destruction of about 300,000 acres of hardwood forest and

over 1000 miles of streams.33 The same particulate emissions, heavy metals, and acid precipitation that

negatively affect human health also kill or injure insects, plant life, fish and other aquatic life, birds, and

mammals.30,31 The total annual U.S. loss in terms of animal, fish, and bird life due to coal power generation

has not been clearly quantified, but is unquestionably in the high millions.


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Wind power

has been criticized for contributing to the deaths of birds. Several scientific studies have been done on this

issue, and the results confirm that this is a problem, though a minor one.34,35 The results should be

understood within the context of overall bird mortality rates. The highest estimates of US bird kills due to

impacts with windmill blades falls around 60,000 individuals. Bat deaths may be as high as 3 times this

number. Most studies estimate 1/10th to of this figure, or about 6,000 to 30,000 individuals. By contrast,

coal and gas extraction are estimated to kill between 30 and 40 million birds each year. Impacts with

electric lines kill about 174 million, pesticides kill about 67 million, legal hunting kills over 100 million, cars

kill about 100 million, and domestic cats kill well over 100 million.36,37

Noise and Health Effects on Communities Adjacent to Generation Facilities

Communities in the immediate vicinity of coal mining and power generation facilities have been well studied

in order to understand the health impacts of the industry. Unfortunately, these communities, which provide

the most to the coal power industry, share a disproportionate percentage of the negative impacts that come

from the process. Coal industry communities show substantial percentage increases in kidney disease41,43

,

heart disease 41,43,45, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and other lung diseases38,41,43,45,

hypertension41,43,45, asthma38,45, lung cancer 38,44,45, infant mortality38, cerebral vascular disease45, and

possibly other cancers and diabetes mellitus38,45.


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Wind power

generation has a cleaner health record.Some residents of communities immediately adjacent to wind power

generation facilities have reported feelings of stress or annoyance in response to the swishing sound from

the generator blades. While these feelings may be valid, studies comparing these populations with control

groups in surrounding areas have consistently found that the percentage of annoyed and stressed persons

does not exceed the background levels of annoyed and stressed people in the overall regional

populations.39,40

4. Discussion and Implications of the Present Results

This chart illustrates an extremely modest 13.5% growth rate for wind energy capacity in the US

rom present to 2030. This estimated growth is based on a figure that is less than half of the

current observed 5 year average growth rate and is lower than any single year growth rate since

the emergence of wind power as a competitive presence in the power generation market in about


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1998. Data from: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epates.html

A fact based comparison between the environmental and health impacts of wind versus coal powered

electrical generation leaves little doubt that wind power is astoundingly cleaner, healthier, better for the

environment, and that it contributes less to global climate change. Questions have been repeatedly raised,

however, regarding the practicality of wind as a large scale source of electrical power, and misconceptions

dominate the public dialogue. Several of these misconceptions need to be remedied.

Since the mid-1990s, wind power generation has taken enormous leaps forward, both in technology and

application. First, the effectiveness of individual windmills is increasing. 600 to 750 kilowatt generators have

been largely replaced, in modern installations, by 3 megawatt generators. 10 megawatt generators are

already in existence, and are soon to be employed in significant numbers in offshore wind farms. It is

reasonable to expect that further technological increases will emerge. Secondly, the world communitys

understanding of the requirements and potentials of wind power generation has expanded dramatically with

the ongoing incorporation of large scale wind generation facilities in to national power grids. There are far

fewer unknowns in 2011 than there were in 1998.

82 nations now have active wind power generation programs, and the technology has grown to supply about

2.5% of the worlds electrical power demands.46

Wind power is the fastest growing electrical generation

technology on the planet, and installed generating capacity is doubling about every 3 years. Many

predictions, both from inside the wind power industry and from outside sources, suggest that wind powerwill supply about 20% of US power consumption by 2030, and may represent between 20 and 30% of

overall global power supplies by that date.47,51 Several countries, including Denmark, Spain, Portugal, and

Ireland, are well beyond the US in terms of percentage of power generated from wind. Experience in these

countries has established, not only that intermittency, or variation in wind speed and availability, does not

affect the utility of wind power generation in a modern power grid, but also that a modern power grid can

absorb the replacement of 20% or more of overall electrical generation capacity by wind power without any

substantial restructuring or compensation for regional flux.48,49,50

Aggressive development of wind technology is proceeding around the world. Various European institutions

have begun earnest exploration of the necessities for building a power grid that is composed entirely of

integrated renewable sources, and China has committed to truly vast wind projects that are expected to

supply an unparalleled amount of emission free renewable energy.

Taking into account the various recent advances in technology, rapid global expansion and success in

applying the technology, and the level of future commitment expressed by world governments for this

sustainable technology, it is very likely that wind power will represent 30% or more of global power

generation within the first half of the 21st

century.

References

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sitehttp://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/coalvswind/c01.html

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sitehttp://www.wwindea.org/home/index.php

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Predominant Energy Sources within Plant, Report Revised April, 2011 (April 2011)

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24 National Wildlife Federation, Mercury Pollution from Coal-fired Power Plants, (April 2011) web

sitehttp://www.nwf.org/en/GlobalWarming/PolicySolutions/~/media/PDFs/Global Warming/Policy-

Solutions/NWF Mercury Fact Sheet FINAL.ashx

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_______________________________________

Author contact information:

R. E. Beauford, Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR,

72701, USA.

([email protected])
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