Rare earth elements (REE) are used in the manufacture of technologies such as smartphones, LED lights, Windmills, Solar PV, fiber optics, electric vehicles (EV) and numerous other applications. China mines, processes and supplies about 95% of the world’s supply. In 2009, China issued a warning about the availability of their supply and that China’s needs would be met first. A year later, China halted shipping any REEs to Japan over a dispute involving a Chinese fishing trawler in Japanese waters, and a month later expanded the embargo to the US and Europe by halting some shipments. The military, environmental and geopolitical concerns over our dependency upon REE’s are serious.
The "green" and tech industries heavily rely upon REEs. The fallacy of "green" is that REE’s mined and processed are huge polluters and dangerous to process. Some people may errantly dismiss green or energy efficiency initiatives, but what this shortage signals is REEs are even less likely than oil to be sustainable in the near future. REEs are being reclaimed from trash by Japan but few others have joined in the recycling effort.
Toyota has already started working on developing motors that eliminate the use of REE’s since the auto industry uses about 40% of the world’s supply of REEs. Paper Battery Company plans to produce and sell flexible power storage devices directly to OEMs in medical devices and portable electronics markets. Second generation products will incorporate hybrid chemical storage and will be sold as integrated structural body panels in air or ground transport for local regenerative power reuse. The paper battery technology is a hopeful for LED lighting too, meaning LED lights may have a future low-cost replacement.
In 2010, China shipped 39,813 metric tons of metals and compounds made from REE’s and according to the WSJ this is 9.3% less than the prior year, and this year, shipments will pare down about 35% from a year earlier.
With a diminishing supply and the nature of mining, extracting and then producing the elements into usable metals and compounds, demand for REEs is creating an opportunity that fits into sustainability. Because REEs are "rare", prices are high and alternatives may lead to lower prices, less pollution, higher availability and more sustainable models. Toyota and Paper Battery are seeking alternatives to REEs and they are setting the bar for other industries to follow. Shaw Industries is another company that early on recognized the challenges of sustainability and changed their business. Although Shaw doesn’t use REE’s their mindset is an example to follow:
Rooted in our drive to continuously improve every aspect of our business, the Shaw Green Edge guides everything we do, every day--from maintaining the highest ethical standards to safeguarding the health and well being of our people and our communities, to conserving energy and water and recycling raw materials, to designing products that can be remanufactured over and over again.
