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Environment

Can seaweed provide the minerals we need for clean energy?

Mining for minerals needed for wind turbines and other clean energy technologies has a high environmental cost, but some kinds of seaweed could offer an alternative source

By James Dinneen

28 May 2024

Some seaweeds accumulate high levels of certain valuable minerals

Jean-Philippe Delobelle/Biosphoto/Alam​y

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The transition away from fossil fuels has led to a rush for new sources of minerals needed to build green technologies like batteries and solar panels. That has meant an expansion of mining, whether for lithium on the salt flats of Bolivia or for nickel and manganese contained within potato-sized nodules on the seafloor.

This push to mine so-called “critical minerals” comes with…

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