Do renewables have limits? Something that can be said to be renewable needs infinity. But since the structures of storage, storage and distribution of the energy that renews itself are made of non-renewable materials, there are limitations in their use.

Recently, in the blog of Falacias Ecologistas (Embaucadores Ecologistas) in Spanish, there was debate about these limits, that is, if the scarcity of so-called rare lands can be an obstacle to the spread of renewable energies, there appeared the mineral called neodymium. Because the most modern wind-energy grinders use it.

Modern wind turbines represented the world before industrialization. When energy was bought at a very low price, only ecologists referred to it. Later, after the fuel crisis in 1970, the oil or nuclear exploiting corporations themselves began to develop wind turbines.

It has often been said that the only wind limit lies in the whim of the wind. Time serene, no strength. The engineers overcame this barrier by integrating it into large power networks in collaboration with thermal, hydraulic and nuclear power plants. The border that is now mentioned is very different.

If the windmill, which is simple in itself, keeps working as efficiently as possible in increasing sizes, its generator should be more sophisticated. For example, the moving parts of generators equipped with speed variators wear quickly, averaging windmills. Repair work is expensive, there's nothing to say about whether the windmill is at sea.

Direct transmission by special magnets is therefore commonly used for larger engines. Magnets made of steel carrying neodymium. With this technology, generators weigh half of the above.

The mills of the last generations carry neodymium magnets. Among other things, there is a tendency to make larger and larger generators. The European Environment Agency proposes that airlines with more than 10 megawatts should be installed in 2030. That is, monsters almost 200 meters high.

If it is projects that want 20% of the energy they consume in the US by 2030 to be wind, including 20% Wind Energy by 2030. Its supporters welcome the environmental benefits and thousands of jobs that could arise. The opponents denounce the harshness of the investments to be made. What if the real boundaries were physical? In materials that are not renewable to the inverse of wind power?

You'll have to buy it in China

It is said that neodisame used in special magnets is the most commonly found in so-called rare earths. The rest of the list has to be much more special. Rare, but necessary above all for the manufacture of tools and tools of advanced technology.

The physicist and mathematician Antonio Turiel wrote about them in his blog, titled The Oil Crash:Lur Rare. According to Turiel, it is not oil and gas, in general fossil energy sources, the only ones that have reached the production summit, Peak Oil. Many other raw materials are declining.

Rare earths are unique, not so much because of their scarcity in the world as because of their complicated exploitation. Except for some exceptions, there are no mines of these minerals, most of which are obtained under more common substances. For example, gallium is related to aluminium production, cadmium with zinc, indium and germanium, tungsten with lead and molybdenum, etc.

These subjects have been produced almost in witness form for years, until in recent decades the science of materials has taken a brutal leap. Today, in lasers, in optical fiber, in televisions -- in general, the consumption of these mandatory raw materials in thousands of devices based on electronics has multiplied exponentially.

In Western countries, they are concerned that most of the rare minerals are now in the hands of China. We want to proliferate windmills, hybrid cars, solar panels -- but some of the raw materials needed for their production are controlled by China. In addition, the Beijing authorities have prevented the export of some of these products: You can sell abroad an eletrator with a rare mineral, but not the mineral itself.

Antonio Turiel brings the article to one of the most widely known rare earths, Jack Lifton, editor of the Lifton Report newsletter. This tells us that very few people understand the rare earth market.

As explained above, not bismuth or tellurium, to name but two, do not appear in any of the concentrations that could make their mines profitable. Bismuth will be mixed with other lands and minerals in lead mines as well as tellurium in molybdenum mines. The Chinese have understood the market for these minerals well, and what they have done is go and control the market, buy all the production in many issues and places and start negotiating with it.

Has its importance been taken into account when it has been decided to expand some new technologies on a very large scale? Antonio Turiel and others say no. Just like the most modern windmills are neodymium servants, the most modern solar panels are raised from minerals like the tellurion. But there may not be enough of them, or if they do, they may be very expensive, with cost-effectiveness calculations to kicks.

This is without prejudice to the environmental damage resulting from the production of these minerals. The title of a complaint made by Windfarm Action Group in Britain last January: “In China they pay for the clean energy experiment in the UK: terrible pollution.”

Turiel has finished the article with the headline of The Times in London, published on February 28, 2010: “The end of consumerism has come.” This was stated by journalist Leo Lewis at the meeting of the world’s largest investors held in Tokyo in the past martes.Los minerals that cause missiles to live like smartphones are scarce and controlled by China. With China, we will inevitably enter into war for resources.