Page 451 - A Comprehensive Guide to Solar Energy Systems

Chapter 23 • Materials: Abundance, Purification, and the Energy Cost 463

Table 23.4 Estimates of the Energy Cost Associated With the Production of Different
Metals in 2014 [56,62]
Share of Energy
Consumption for
Energy Cost of Total Energy Metals Produc-
Metal Production/GJ t −1 2014 Production/t Cost/GJ tion/%
Aluminum 212 50,500,000 10,706,000,000 66.1953
Antimony 13 158,000 2,054,000 0.0127
Arsenic 28 36,400 1,019,200 0.0063
Beryllium 457.2 290 132,588 0.0008
Bismuth 56.4 13,600 767,040 0.0047
Cadmium 110 22,400 2,464,000 0.0152
Cerium 354 24,000 8,496,000 0.0525
Chromium 64 26,400,000 1,689,600,000 10.4468
Cobalt 322 123,000 39,606,000 0.2449
Copper 33 18,500,000 610,500,000 3.7747
Gadolinium 2,162 7,500 16,215,000 0.1003
Gallium 12,660 435 5,507,100 0.0341
Germanium 2,215 173 383,195 0.0024
Gold 68,400 2,990 204,516,000 1.2645
Hafnium 633 90 56,970 0.0004
Indium 2,875 844 2,426,500 0.0150
Iridium 2,100 3 6,300 0.0000
Lanthanium 219 12,500 2,737,500 0.0169
Lead 20 4,870,000 97,400,000 0.6022
Lithium 433 33,000 14,289,000 0.0883
Magnesium 437.3 1,055,000 461,351,500 2.8525
Manganese 56.9 17,800,000 1,012,820,000 6.2623
Mercury 409 2,350 961,150 0.0059
Molybdenum 148 281,000 41,588,000 0.2571
Neodymium 392 75,900 29,752,800 0.1840
Nickel 114 2,450,000 279,300,000 1.7269
Palladium 5,500 193 1,061,500 0.0066
Platinum 270,500 147 39,763,500 0.2459
Praseodymium 220 2,500 550,000 0.0034
Rhenium 171 44.7 7,643.7 0.0000
Rhodium 14,200 25 355,000 0.0022
Silver 1,582 26,800 42,397,600 0.2621
Tantalum 1,755 1,200 2,106,000 0.0130
Tin 207 286,000 59,202,000 0.3660
Titanium 430 194,000 83,420,000 0.5158
Tungsten 357 86,800 30,987,600 0.1916
Vanadium 517 82,700 42,755,900 0.2644
Yttrium 756 600 453,600 0.0028
Zinc 48 13,300,000 638,400,000 3.9472
Zirconium 1,371.5 1,420 1,947,530 0.0120
Uncertainty around these numbers is due to variation in years of reporting, accounting for coproduction, and variability in processing
methods.