UC Berkeley

Fossil fuels like coal, gas, and oil have been the main source of energy in the U.S. and many other countries for decades. By the mid-century, the United States will have rapidly adopted renewable energy sources, resulting in waste from mining, the construction of these systems, and the decommissioning of fossil fuel-based plants. Decommissioning existing fossil fuel combustion power plants and adopting less energy-dense renewable energy sources will increase raw material demand for the construction of these systems and waste generation from the decommissioning of the former. So, the fast adoption of renewable energy sources will affect the demand for raw materials, the transportation of these materials due to a complicated supply chain, and the need to adopt appropriate waste management strategies because the federal government has not yet adopted recycling solar panels or wind turbine blades, and it is not yet financially viable in the United States. At the same time, there are practices that can be adopted from the nuclear energy sector that have a rigorous end-of-life strategy to protect the environment from the impact of spent nuclear fuel. Wind, solar, and coal are all industries that could use some of these practices. More raw materials will be taken out of the ground, creating a lot of mining waste. At the same time, coal and nuclear power plants will be shut down, which will add to the total amount of decommissioning waste produced over the next few decades. To make informed decisions about the environmental impact of different energy sources, one must examine the life cycle of each fuel or technology, from the extraction of the materials to the disposal of residuals (which is called a life-cycle assessment), and calculate the impact of complex logistical systems to build these power systems. In this study, we examine the main ways waste is handled in the energy industry with a focus on mining activities and the amount of waste produced per MWh of electricity generated and per MW of the installed capacity of a project, as well as the amount of carbon dioxide emissions caused by shipping raw materials from all over the world to meet the needs predicted for the next 30 years. The main focus here is on the mining impact: (1) raw material supply is a critical component for any technology; (2) mining waste was not accounted for in previous studies; (3) the mining waste will depend on the raw material list; (4) the mining sector is the area where most of the waste is generated; 5) raw materials make their way through a complex supply chain, adding to the overall carbon emissions. This research demonstrates which systems generate the most waste by mass and require the largest amount of materials required to build such a system and assesses the expected carbon footprint if the U.S. does not adopt localized raw material production practices.