Even Jay Leno said, “I’m saving energy driving my 1955 Buick. Look how much energy is wasted creating and delivering a hybrid car”
https://www.barrons.com/articles/teach-civics-to-save-the-nation-51611686496
Part of link:
That growing demand has had two key sources. The first, a shift from coal and gas power to wind and solar, works in copper’s favor because those systems require five times more copper than conventional ones.
For example, offshore wind takes around 15 metric tons, 33,069/lbs of Copper per megawatt (500 homes?) of installed capacity, while onshore wind and solar take around 5 metric tons and conventional power one.
The analysts expect copper demand in renewable energy to rise from 991 kilotons 991,000 tons in 2020 to 1.9 megatons 1,900,000 tons in 2030.
The other source of copper consumption is electric vehicles, which take around 83 kilograms 183lbs on average, while charging points need 10 kilograms 22lbs of copper. LaFemina expects copper demand will rise to 1.7 megatons in 2030 from 170 kilotons in 2020.
As for stocks to play this copper demand, Jefferies upgraded Antofagasta (ticker: ANTO.UK) and Glencore (GLEN.UK) to Buy from Hold, and reiterated Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) and First Quantum Minerals (FM.Canada) as top picks. Other miners with bullish ratings are BHP Group (BHP), Rio Tinto (RIO), and Vale (VALE).
My Response To The Story:
Briefly in case you don’t read the story, it says the new technologies to save energy is and will gobble up megatons of copper.
So I just wanted to bring attention to you how stupid leadership and society has been, and my view not in the news for obvious reasons.
Producing Copper or any metal requires and wastes enormous tons of energy, probably coal diesel electric etc etc.
Add to that tons of energy wasted to produce and ship the EV across oceans and land masses. This goes back to my first helpful ditty from 1965 “every time you try to save, you lose” and the other one from Dines, “we always get what we try to resist”
Bottom line. Switching energy consumption from cars to the global mining the industry is a push. The climate change agenda has been wasting man hours or labor or time and materials to spew more pollutants than ever into the air than normal without the save energy agenda. Which is really just to create work.
Same with gov’t supported cheap airfares causing too many frivolous unneeded trips.
A better approach would be to create cheap treadmills in each town that generate electricity and pay people $30/hr to walk on them. Kill two birds with one stone.