[Greenbuilding] Lithium

[J Messerschmidt]

If you haven't seen the NY Times this morning there's an article about 
Bolivia becoming the Saudi Arabia of lithium, a critical component in 
batteries.  As more and more electric cars are manufactured, lithium could 
potentially become as valuable as oil.  Bolivia has an estimated 5.4 million 
tons, compared with 3 million tons in China and 410,000 in the US.  Of 
course the same movie is played yet again, Bolivia is not all that friendly 
with the US.  Also, the majority of the deposits are under indigenous lands. 
It will be interesting to watch how the worlds largest corporations and 
governments will exploit these resources while keeping the original 
inhabitants of the land poor and dependant on them for survival.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/world/americas/03lithium.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=lithium&st=cse

John Messerschmidt