Modern Warfare Is Burning Through the Metals Needed for a High-Tech Future
I've been writing for more than a decade and a half about a broad category of metals often nowadays dubbed "strategic" because they are crucial to high-tech applications such as solar photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, flat screens, semiconductors, batteries, optics, aerospace and a wide array of military applications including night vision, radar systems, communications…
Modern warfare is consuming vast quantities of metals essential for a high-tech future, according to a recent report. These metals, often dubbed "strategic," are critical for applications like solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, flat screens, semiconductors, batteries, optics, aerospace, and military uses such as night vision, radar systems, communications satellites, radiation shielding, vehicle armor, and submarine hulls.
While civilian devices can often recycle these strategic minerals, warfare destroys them irretrievably, leading to a significant depletion of the metals used in military applications.
One example cited is Ukraine's drone warfare, which is reportedly consuming 4% of global Germanium demand. Germanium, like many other strategic metals, has several civilian uses including semiconductors, solar energy, autonomous vehicles, scientific instruments, battery technology, and various healthcare applications. The rapid military embrace of drone and missile warfare is expected to increase the demand for these metals, potentially causing them to be scattered if they are used in weapons.
This situation is reminiscent of the principles outlined by Romanian economist Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, who argued that the degradation of nonrenewable resources like metals is inevitable due to the law of entropy, or the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Even in the case of civilian and non-exploding military devices, recycling can only recover a fraction of the original material. As a result, all metal ores worth mining will eventually be exhausted, leading to a complete loss of metals' usability.
While recycling efforts are improving, the mining industry is pressured to meet the increasing demand for metal extraction. However, the sustainability of such dramatic increases in output is questionable, as tapping lower-grade resources becomes more energy-intensive and costly. The rate of extraction matters more than the total stock of resources, as it requires more energy and other resources, which could potentially slow down or even reverse the rate increase.
Recent data shows that the extraction rate of lithium has increased by 2,539 percent from 1970 to 2022, raising concerns about the sustainability of this trend. The ongoing scramble for strategic metals, driven by military applications, may prove insufficient, especially when compared to the high-tech world promised by tech leaders.
Despite the potential benefits of a high-tech society, a lack of physical resources could hinder its development on a large scale. Thus, the importance of strategic metals in warfare and the need for responsible recycling are critical issues that demand immediate attention.
Written by urgent.news from OilPrice's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
