Better Use of Rare Earths
On a daily basis I conduct scientific and industry research. Many of the Green and electronic innovations I come across in my research tend to rely on exotic materials that make them high risk propositions, especially if the exotic materials are extracted from mines located in unreliable markets or from singular sources.
Through adversity comes opportunity. It seems the big squeeze on rare earths has the scientific community scrambling to find a technical solution to get the most of what we have and finding materials that are more common and accessible to replace the rare earths that we need.
On one front there are those in the US trying to be more efficient with the use of the rare earths, mixing them with other composites. Over in Japan there are trying to replace rare earths all together with materials that are more common through redesign or through man-made substitutes that have similar properties to the rare earths that are being replaced. Given that rare earths mining tends to be a very toxic process, China could be doing the environment a favor by forcing us to look for alternatives that either reduce our reliance on mining the rare earths or eliminating our need for some of them all together.