From William Hughes-Games, Waipara, New Zealand
The increased demand for minerals to build renewable energy kit, such as wind turbines, solar panels and mega batteries, emphasises the need for a circular economy in which the necessary minerals, once extracted from the ground, are never reburied as waste, but reused again and again (13 November, p 38).
It also highlights the necessity of using, when possible, minerals that are common and easily found. For instance, , batteries that use only zinc and bromine and other versions based on iron and vanadium. Any innovation that reduces the use of less common metals should be promoted.
