Mineral resources for renewable energy: optimal timing of energy production

Adrien Fabre, Mouez Fodhaz and Francesco Ricci
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Mouez Fodhaz: PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement

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Abstract: The production of energy from renewable sources is much more intensive in minerals than that from fossil resources. The scarcity of certain minerals limits the potential for substituting renewable energy for scarce fossil resources. However, minerals can be recycled, while fossils cannot. We develop an intertemporal model to study the dynamics of the optimal energy mix in the presence of mineral intensive renewable energy and fossil energy. We analyze energy production when both mineral and fossil resources are scarce, but minerals are recyclable. We show that the greater the recycling rate of minerals, the more the energy mix should rely on renewable energy, and the sooner should investment in renewable capacity take place. We confirm these results even in the presence of other better known factors that a ect the optimal schedule of resource use: growth in the productivity in the renewable sector, imperfect substitution between the two sources of energy, convex extraction costs for mineral resources and pollution from the use of fossil resources.

Keywords: recycling; renewable and non-renewable natural resources; mineral resources; energy transition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env and nep-reg
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.umontpellier.fr/hal-02056348v1
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Related works:
Journal Article: Mineral resources for renewable energy: Optimal timing of energy production (2020)
Working Paper: Mineral resources for renewable energy: Optimal timing of energy production (2020)
Working Paper: Mineral resources for renewable energy: Optimal timing of energy production (2020)
Working Paper: Mineral Resources for Renewable Energy: Optimal Timing of Energy Production (2019)
Working Paper: Mineral resources for renewable energy: optimal timing of energy production (2019)
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