Copper supplies set to peak just as tech needs more Concerns are mounting over copper supplies, with a fresh study warning that demand will likely outstrip production within a decade, threatening to constrain global technological advancement. Electrification of industry, electric vehicles, and the AI-driven boom in IT infrastructure are all fueling demand for copper, used for …
"Concerns are mounting over copper supplies, with a fresh study warning that demand will likely outstrip production within decade, threatening to constrain global technological advancement"
I have to say that the problem would be smaller for copper and rare earth element supplies if more electrical waste recycling was done across the planet.
Had several independent contractors deinstalling old running exterior AC/heat pump systems to recycle the copper cores. Quite a lot of copper in there. Nothing deterred them either in their mission. If it was running, easy, pull the power at the junction box. Code here requires a emergency shutoff. Convenient. After pulling power, hacksaw off the connections disconnect and wheel it off.
Many modern systems have switched to AL based coils. Of course there is still that juicy compressor motor to be had! And AL prices are up too. Metal, the new oil.
Given how much old cabling, especially old Cat cabling, currently simply gets dumped due to the costs of trying to reclaim the copper, a substantial shortage might change the economics.
Additionally, it would seem an increase in the cost of copper may also change the economics of running Catn verses fibre: why install Cat8 when you could use fibre?
This would have a (potentially small) impact on the demand for copper, reducing that shortfall.
Aside: perhaps the time is right to replicate the 1980s events in the Ethernet world, where a proposal for a new IEEE802.n working group to focus on LAN over twisted-pair was changed into a new subgroup under 802.3 CSMA/CD aka Ethernet. Hence with fibre perhaps we should say take Single Mode (OS2) fibre and LC UPC Simplex connectors and brand it Cat9.
Not sure about buried low voltage. Talking to the guys digging a hole to repair yet another mains cable fault down the road "It was laid when they used aluminium". This was the 3rd or 4th failure of the actual cable in about 300 metres in 20 odd years plus at least two connections to premises.
Possibly. It may also have been due to having been buried fairly shallowly. There's no great depth of soil over the bedrock - trench digging is more akin to quarrying - so it may be that the cables are insufficiently protected from traffic damage. On the other hand the crew working on the repair seemed to regard it as a characteristic of the material.
Near me a major local road has been closed for a significant length of time as they finally decided to reroute various utilties eg. Water and gas, because the (iron) pipes were buried at a depth considered reasonable at the time, but wholly insufficient to protect them from todays traffic.
So suspect the road crews are right, the material is slightly more brittle than copper; sufficient for it to be more easily damaged, due as you note because it could not be installed at a depth to insulate it from traffic vibration etc.
There's a slew of houses across the UK filled with aluminium-cored mains wiring. I have one such, built in 1964, a previous copper price peak apparently.
Like many old fashioned wiring systems it's generally OK if you leave it well alone, but the al cores do harden over time & become brittle, meaning that simple repairs can turn into cable replacement. Whether that's corrosion or work hardening from the constant 50hz vibration I've no idea, both possibly?
I've encountered plenty of rubber-insulated wiring still in use, but the slightest touch makes it disintegrate. Haven't yet found a lead & fabric insulated cable in service...
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