Unprecedented drop in renewable energy prices, the high energy intensity of mining and the volatility of fossil fuel pricing have combined to create a groundbreaking opportunity for decarbonizing the mining industry. With the potential to cut a gigaton of carbon, it’s time to take a hard look toward sustainable mining.
To continue economic and demographic growth as a modern society, extraction of the commodities we depend on is essential. However, while the extractive industry radically has progressed in productivity and energy efficiency, it still remains an exceedingly energy- and carbon-intensive operation.
The amount of renewables in the mining sector’s electricity mix is only 2.5 percent of the renewable energy used globally. Yet renewable resources have the potential to provide a large portion of the electricity consumed by the mining sector at or below the cost of traditional diesel generators or grid power. Therefore, it is crucial to accept the existing realities of the mining industry to adopt a practical path to decarbonization.
By analyzing the mining industry, Sunshine for Mines, a Rocky Mountain Institute-Carbon War Room program, has uncovered advantages in energy economics, operational efficiency and community relations. RMI’s Toward Sustainable Mining (PDF) Insight Brief found five themes that contextualize the status of the mining industry, and provide a practical path toward a less carbon-intensive, more profitable mining operations.
Tackling negative externalities in the extractive industry Carbon intensity is an often-unrecognized externality of the mining industry and is simply a consequence of the composition of the current energy mix, the off-grid nature of most mines and the inherent energy intensity of this process. Many mining sites in remote locations use the most readily available form of electricity generation, diesel generators, which are highly polluting and expensive. Grid-connected mines do not escape carbon intensity either, as the electricity mix on the grid is dominated by fossil fuels. Source: GreeBiz
