Ronan Cray
1 min readNov 2, 2022

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As a scientist, you should recognize the extraction argument is a red herring. It extrapolates from existing technology without taking into account substitutions, market forces, innovation, rationing or replacement. The best example is lithium which will soon be replaced with aluminium ion or sodium ion batteries, made of abundant materials. Or separating water into hydrogen and oxygen produces not one but two energy sources. Or that the most common replacement for copper is aluminium, the most abundant metal on the planet. Or that even these elements may soon be eclipsed by organic matter,such as the use of fungi in building materials. Or, perhaps the biggest one of all, the resources freed up when fossil fuel extraction ends - with its thousands of kilometers of pipelines, massive tanker ships, oil rigs, trucking, gas stations, and infrastructure.
The renewable energy movement is a replacement, not an add. Those items that become scarce in the transition will themselves be replaced.

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Ronan Cray
Ronan Cray

Written by Ronan Cray

Ronan Cray moved away from New York City to live in New Zealand. Author of horror novels Red Sand and Dust Eaters, he finds non-fiction more terrifying.

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