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Mineral resources and consumption in the twenty-first century

By: , and 
Edited by: R.D. SimpsonM.A. Toman, and R.U. Ayres

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Abstract

Modern societies are highly dependent upon energy and mineral resources to produce and deliver the material goods and even the services of everyday life. Although societies' dependence upon fossil fuels is evident and understood by much of the population, few people are as well informed about their dependence upon a wide variety of nonfuel minerals. This ignorance may result from two interrelated conditions. First, in contrast to fossil fuels, few people directly use nonfuel minerals in recognizable forms because most use is as part of manufactured products. Second, the value of raw ($38 billion) and even processed ($397 billion) nonfuel minerals in the United States in 2002 was small relative to the value the industries that consume these materials contribute to the economy ($1,700 billion). That is, although nonfuel mineral inputs are indispensable to construction and to the manufacture of durable and even nondurable goods (USGS 2003), their value is modest compared with the value of the final products.

Publication type Book chapter
Publication Subtype Book Chapter
Title Mineral resources and consumption in the twenty-first century
Year Published 2005
Language English
Publisher Resources for the Future
Publisher location Washington, D.C.
Contributing office(s) National Minerals Information Center
Description 21 p.
Larger Work Type Book
Larger Work Subtype Monograph
Larger Work Title Scarcity and growth revisited: natural resources and the environment in the new millennium
First page 33
Last page 53
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
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