Metals for Fuels? The Raw Material Shift by Energy-Efficient Transport Systems in Europe

Abstract

Abstract:The long-term transition towards a low-carbon transport sector is a key strategy in Europe. This includes the replacement of fossil fuels, modal shifts towards public transport as well as higher energy efficiency in the transport sector overall. While these energy savings are likely to reduce the direct greenhouse gas emissions of transport, they also require the production of new and different vehicles. This study analyses in detail whether final energy savings in the transport sector also induce savings for material resources from nature if the production of future vehicles is considered. The results for 28 member states in 2030 indicate that energy efficiency in the transport sector leads to lower carbon emissions as well as resource use savings. However, energy-efficient transport sectors can have a significant impact on the demand for metals in Europe. An additional annual demand for 28.4 Mt of metal ores was calculated from the personal transport sector in 2030 alone. The additional metal ores from semiprecious metals (e.g., copper) amount to 12.0 Mt, from precious metals (e.g., gold) to 9.1 Mt and from other metals (e.g., lithium) to 11.7 Mt, with small savings for ferrous metal ores (−4.6 Mt).

Reaction Pathways toward the Formation of Bastnäsite: Replacement of Calcite by Rare Earth Carbonates

“…Most of the research nowadays aims to find new REEs sources, while others are targeted to develop cost-efficient recycling methods from waste. In particular, recycling of e-waste (electronic and/or industrial waste) has been gaining broad interest in the EU, China, and India. − Less than 20% of the e-waste is predicted to be recycled and documented, while the rest (80%) is deposited without further treatment . For example, in the United States, approximately 50 million metric tons of e-waste is deposited annually, and only 12.5% of this is recycled .…”

Dynamic modeling of global fossil fuel infrastructure and materials needs: Overcoming a lack of available data

“…Among low-carbon technologies, the most significant material constraint could stem from solar PV and wind turbines along with power storage [37,35] and the transmission and distribution networks [38]. A higher level of pressure for rare-earth elements (REE) than for base metals is emphasized, with potential constraint in REE for each PV solar technology [29,39,40], region-specific supply risk [41,42,43,44,45] which require future increase in numerous metal supplies [46,47] with potential limitations in reserves which could hamper future projects [48]. The downscaling 2 A top-down study is defined as a modeling relying on input output tables which assesses stocks from a flow analysis.…”

The Multiple Benefits of the 2030 EU Energy Efficiency Potential

“…For a basic introduction to the concept see [58] (in German), the application [59] and modelling implementation [60]. Political consequences are described in [61] (in German) and results and implications from our resource research published in [62]. Global Warming Potential for 100 years (GWP 100a) is estimated using figures from the International Panel on Climate Change [63], Ecocosts by Voigtländer [64] and material footprint [65].…”