The Rare Metals War

The Dark Side of Clean Energy and Digital Technologies

Guillaume Pitron

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English

Scribe Publications
04 August 2020

Alternative & renewable energy industries; Mathematics & Sciences; Organometallic chemistry; Economic geology

"The resources race is on. Powering our digital lives and green technologies are some of the Earth's most precious metals - but they are running out. And what will happen when they do?

The resources race is on. Powering our digital lives and green technologies are some of the Earth's most precious metals - but they are running out. And what will happen when they do?

The green-tech revolution has been lauded as the silver bullet to a new world. One that is at last free of oil, pollution, shortages, and cross-border tensions. Drawing on six years of research across a dozen countries, this book cuts across conventional green thinking to probe the hidden, dark side of green technology.

By breaking free of fossil fuels, we are in fact setting ourselves up for a new dependence - on rare metals such as cobalt, gold, and palladium. They are essential to electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar panels, our smartphones, computers, tablets, and other everyday connected objects. China has captured the lion's share of the rare metals industry, but consumers know very little about how they are mined and traded, or their environmental, economic, and geopolitical costs.

The Rare Metals War is a vital expose of the ticking time-bomb that lies beneath our new technological order. It uncovers the reality of our lavish and ambitious environmental quest that involves risks as formidable as those it seeks to resolve.

'The journalist and filmmaker warns against the optimistic belief that technology is the solution ... At a time when many claim to be ""citizens of the world"" or retreat into naive or hypocritical protectionism, Pitron's book is an attempt to open people's eyes to the consequences of their societal choices and lifestyles.' -Green European Journal

'French Writer and analyst Guillaume Pitron warns about growing reliance on rare-earth metal - which are necessary to build high-tech products ... He shines a light on ""the untold story"" of the energy and digital transitions.' -European Scientist

' E xposes the dirty underpinnings of clean technologies in a debut that raises valid questions about energy extraction.' -Publishers Weekly"

By: Guillaume Pitron
Imprint: Scribe Publications
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 232mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 26mm
Weight: 386g
ISBN: 9781925849325
ISBN 10: 1925849325
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 04 August 2020
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Guillaume Pitron (Author) Guillaume Pitron, who was born in 1980, is a French journalist, author, and documentary-maker. He holds master's degrees in law from the University of Paris and in international law from Georgetown University. He worked as a lawyer before becoming a journalist for Le Monde Diplomatique, Geo, and National Geographic, and is the director of several documentaries on the exploitation of raw materials, notablyBoomerang- the dark side of the chocolate bar and The Rare Earths Dirty War. Bianca Jacobsohn (Translator) A South African and French national, Bianca Jacobsohn has over ten years' in-the-field experience as a translator/interpreter in the energy and finance sectors, and has accompanied French and South African ministers from Paris to Pretoria.