[p2p-research] [Open Manufacturing] Fwd: there is no energy crisis

[marc fawzi]

The counter argument is that if something is in wide use and hundreds
of billions of dollars in trade depend on it then there will be more
than enough money dedicated to making sure that every bit of it is
extracted and at the same time finding alternatives that can be used
to provide the same function.

If hundreds of billions of dollars a year depend on some resource,
e.g. oil, then A) researchers will find ways to extract the last bit
of oil and B) researchers will find alternative to oil that delivers
the same function, i.e. energy, be it solar or wind or whatever.

It is funny to suggest that hundreds of billions of dollars in annual
trade that is based on Gallium, Indium or any substance is going to go
away just because that substance may be hard to extract or less
common.

The amount of money involved means that there is large funds available
to R&D institutions (corporate and academic) to pursue more efficient
production of Gallium and Indium as well as to find replacement.

Thus, the argument that the sky will fall down is rather silly.

On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 11:13 PM, M. Fioretti <mfioretti at nexaima.net> wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 00:47:32 AM -0800, marc fawzi wrote:
>
>> The part about the world running out of Indium and Gallium smells
>> funny to me, based on the following:
>>
>> 1. ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) is [used in] billions of other laptops
>> ...
>> 2. Gallium Arsenide is used in most IR and near-IR laser
>> diodes... used in all CD and DVD players today, billions of them
>>
>> 3. Gallium Arsenide is used in most very high frequency FETs (field
>> effect transistors) which are in wide spread use in
>> telecommunications...
>
> in other words, "how could we be running out of these materials in
> ~10/15 years if we are making such a large use of them today"???? Is
> this your counter-argument, ie the reason why you find funny that part
> of the critique?
>
>> I hardly have any credentials in the solar or semiconductor space
>> (besides helping students at Northeastern U. design a solar racer)
>> but had worked with lasers and flat panel display tech at the R&D
>> stage back in the early 90s when making a blue laser entailed IR
>> beam doubling via birefringent nonlinear crystals (a $100,000 setup
>> at least) and we used ITO in fabricating flexible displays and
>> architectural lighting.
>
> Did you, in order to fabricate displays for those projects, have to
> study in depth ITO world reserves, or came into in-depth studies on
> the same subject? If yes, what were the results? If not, how is that
> activity of yours relevant?
>
>> So one German scientist said we're running out of Indium and/or
>> Gallium.... What does it mean to base a conclusion on what one
>> scientist's statements?
>
> On this you're right, of course . But the arguments and data you
> provided so far contain nothing that can actually counter that
> statement from that scientist (does his nationality matter, btw???),
> do they?
>
> Speaking of efficient use of resources: for heaven's sake, dear list
> members, please do learn to quote email properly. Don't retransmit to
> many people, every time, KBytes and KBytes of text they had already
> received. On a global scale, this is one, not the biggest of course,
> reasons which keep consumption of raw materials for networks and
> drives higher than necessary. On a local scale: even if there were
> only one member on this list who pays Internet connectivity per byte
> or time... would it be polite to force that person to pay more just
> because of carelessness?
>
> Marco
> http://mfioretti.net
>
> --
> Your own civil rights and the quality of your life heavily depend on how
> software is used *around* you:            http://digifreedom.net/node/84
>
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