The Secret Behind Wind Energy

Many countries in the present world are trying to cater their energy requirements using green energy sources. Along with the increasing demand for green energy, rare earth materials like neodymium have gained much attention. They are critical components in the manufacturing process of wind turbines that can be found in wind farms.

Even though wind farms help us to protect the world, the process of extracting neodymium is damaging the environment. China is recognized as the world’s largest supplier of neodymium and they have highly ignored the warnings issued by environmental specialists. Their negative effects can be seen today; the Mongolia’s widening sea of radioactive waste is a perfect example to prove this. US government has understood these negative consequences and they have dramatically reduced the rare earth metal production during the past few years.

From the above mentioned facts, it is clear that many countries have thought about the greener aspect of making energy out of wind. However, they don’t seem to have any other ideal alternative option. For example, solar power is too expensive and it is not efficient like wind power. Moreover, fossil fuel burning directly contributes towards global warming. In order to minimize these harmful effects, the developers of wind farms are trying to make them more efficient. Countries like Australia are following an environmentally friendly way in the process of extracting neodymium.

When it comes to China, Inner Mongolia contains over 90% of the world’s neodymium reserves. China is focusing more on this area to cater the requirements of the world. The factories that have come to this area for the process of neodymium extraction have created huge lakes of toxic waste. The most notable damage is the emission of poison to water, air and livestock. This has created huge health issues for the people who live around the area including cancers and breathing problems.

Jamie Choi, who is an expert about toxics and poisons in China has mentioned that only one step in the extraction of neodymium has created environmental issues. Further he has mentioned that a large amount of acid is pumped into the ores that are located in the ground along with several chemicals to facilitate the process of extraction. The byproducts of this process are dumped into tailing lakes after that and they can create health issues to people all around China. However, they are not planning to cut down the production or restrict the usage of these harmful processes of manufacturing neodymium.

About Stanford Magnets: Based in California, Stanford Magnets has been involved in the R&D and sales of licensed Rare-earth magnets, Neodymium magnets and SmCo magnets, ceramic magnets, flexible magnets and magnetic assemblies since the mid of 1980s. We supply all these types of magnets in a wide range of shapes, sizes and grades.