Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, tidal, hydro, biomass, and geothermal have become significant sectors of the energy market.[1][2] The rapid growth of these sources in the 21st century has been prompted by increasing costs of fossil fuels as well as their environmental impact issues that significantly lowered their use.
Copper plays an important role in these renewable energy systems.[3][4][5][6][7] Copper usage averages up to five times more in renewable energy systems than in traditional power generation, such as fossil fuel and nuclear power plants.[8] Since copper is an excellent thermal and electrical conductor among engineering metals (second only to silver),[9] electrical systems that utilize copper generate and transmit energy with high efficiency and with minimum environmental impacts.
When choosing electrical conductors, facility planners and engineers factor capital investment costs of materials against operational savings due to their electrical energy efficiencies over their useful lives, plus maintenance costs. Copper often fares well in these calculations. A factor called "copper usage intensity,” is a measure of the quantity of copper necessary to install one megawatt of new power-generating capacity.
When planning for a new renewable power facility, engineers and product specifiers seek to avoid supply shortages of selected materials. According to the United States Geological Survey, in-ground copper reserves have increased more than 700% since 1950, from almost 100 million tonnes to 720 million tonnes in 2017, despite the fact that world refined usage has more than tripled in the last 50 years.[10] Copper resources are estimated to exceed 5,000 million tonnes.[11][12]
Bolstering the supply from copper extraction is the more than 30 percent of copper installed from 2007 to 2017 that came from recycled sources.[13] Its recycling rate is higher than any other metal.[14]
^"REN21 Renewables Global Status Report". REN21. 2019-06-14. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
^Will the Transition to Renewable Energy Be Paved in Copper?, Renewable Energy World; Jan 15, 2016; https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2016/01/will-the-transition-to-renewable-energy-be-paved-in-copper.html Archived 2018-06-22 at the Wayback Machine
^García-Olivares, Antonio, Joaquim Ballabrera-Poy, Emili García-Ladona, and Antonio Turiel. A global renewable mix with proven technologies and common materials, Energy Policy, 41 (2012): 561-57, http://imedea.uib-csic.es/master/cambioglobal/Modulo_I_cod101601/Ballabrera_Diciembre_2011/Articulos/Garcia-Olivares.2011.pdf
^"Energy saving - A kilo more of copper increases environmental performance by 100 to 1,000 times". Renewable Energy Magazine, at the heart of clean energy journalism. 2011-04-14. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
^Copper at the core of renewable energies; European Copper Institute; European Copper Institute; 18 pages; http://www.eurocopper.org/files/presskit/press_kit_copper_in_renewables_final_29_10_2008.pdf Archived 2012-05-23 at the Wayback Machine
^Copper in energy systems; Copper Development Association Inc.; http://www.copper.org/environment/green/energy.html Archived 2020-08-01 at the Wayback Machine
^The Rise Of Solar: A Unique Opportunity For Copper; Solar Industry Magazine; April 2017; Zolaika Strong; https://issues.solarindustrymag.com/article/rise-solar-unique-opportunity-copper Archived 2022-10-30 at the Wayback Machine
^Pops, Horace, 1995. Physical Metallurgy of Electrical Conductors, in Nonferrous Wire Handbook, Volume 3: Principles and Practice, The Wire Association International
^The World Copper Factbook, 2017; http://www.icsg.org/index.php/component/jdownloads/finish/170/2462
^Copper Mineral Commodity Summary (USGS, 2017) https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/copper/ mcs-2017-coppe.pdf
^Global Mineral Resource Assessment (USGS, 2014) http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2014/3004/pdf/fs2014-3004.pdf
^Long-Term Availability of Copper; International Copper Association; http://copperalliance.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ICA-long-term-availability-201802-A4-HR.pdf Archived 2018-06-29 at the Wayback Machine
^Will the Transition to Renewable Energy Be Paved in Copper?, Renewable Energy World; Jan 15, 2016; by Zolaikha Strong; https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2016/01/will-the-transition-to-renewable-energy-be-paved-in-copper.html Archived 2018-06-22 at the Wayback Machine
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