The Not So Green…Green New Deal

You may as well call it the "not so green" new deal. Let's say we go with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her "Green New Deal" and we try to eliminate air travel and cow farts. OK, let's not even go there yet. Let's just start with her call to abandon fossil fuels and make every single commercial building in the US energy efficient.

We asked this question earlier this week on our statewide radio show, Montana Talks. How much more mining would need to be done just to have enough of the rare earth metals to pull this off?

Luckily, The Washington Examiner has the answer for us:

Transitioning to a global renewable energy system devoid of fossil fuels will place a strain on the supply of certain metals required to manufacture solar panels and wind turbines, according to the study, requiring twelve times today's production by 2050.

Specifically, the demand for so-called "rare earth metals" such as neodymium, terbium, dysprosium, and praseodymium stands out as a potential problem for moving to a global energy system dominated by renewables. The metals are required for their conductivity properties.