<DrumBeat: January 31, 2008The Oil DrumFormer CEO of Talisman Energy: Peak oil is 'here or hereabouts'>

56 comments on The future of mining machines

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

Henry on January 31, 2008 - 2:17pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Recycling sounds so green. It can be if it saves or creates more resources than it uses, but there are countless examples where this is ignored. Losing money recycling, is losing resources. A town government nearby where I live decided to be environmentally friendly by recycling plastics. Everyone though this was a wonderful idea, so collection of plastic containers began. It turned out that it cost much more to do this than they gained, but they kept on doing it because it was politically correct, when in reality it was like cutting down three trees to save one. They only looked at the benefit and not the cost.

As long as recycling is profitable, it is sound and of course should be done. I just don't see it as any great solution to resource acquisition since even when it is sound, it is marginal. It reminds me of corn ethanol where the return is at best 30% as compared to the current return for oil of near 500%; it may work marginally, but it is not going to come near replacing what we have today.

0
Comments can no longer be added to this story.
lilnev on January 31, 2008 - 4:05pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Well it's currently only marginally profitable because energy and commodities are cheap. If the price of oil rises dramatically, new plastic will become more expensive relative to recycled plastic. Even if a recycling program is currently uneconomical, it could make sense to implement it if you believe the economics are likely to change. You'll have your system in place and your people accustomed to the idea.

I've actually been wondering if artificial intelligence and robotics can significantly improve recycling. Currently, only certain relatively pure waste streams can be processed. We rely on the consumer to do the separating, a hassle for which he's not reimbursed. Then additional trucks and personnel to collect it. It doesn't seem unreasonable to equip a machine with a vision system, chemical sensors, etc, and a set of flexible robotic arms, and train it to do the sorting on a general municipal waste stream. It could permit a much larger number of categories, capturing a much larger fraction of what currently heads to landfills. And it wouldn't require household sorting or a separate collection infrastructure. Maybe the AI and robotics aren't quite good enough yet, but those fields are advancing fast....

peace,
lilnev

0
Comments can no longer be added to this story.