Let's watch this test case

> Thanx for the excellent links on platinum demand. I
> found them if anything to show a greater need for
> platinum than anything else. Especially this first
> link.
>
> I wonder if instead of concentrating on the
> environmental debate on SPS, that on the side we can
> look at the impact that asteroid mining has on this
> debate. For instance, assuming that we can we double
> the amount of platinum coming per year by
> supplementing with NEA resources, would this not also
> increase the availability and decrease the cost of
> fuel cells making them more viable?

In the long run, barring the discovery of new physical catalytic
processes, I think we're going to rely more and more on platinum and
the fuel cell technology.

Unlike Paul, I think this will be centered on automobiles and not
home-based fuel cells and storage to buffer electricity supply and
demand.

That said, the scarcity of platinum and the enviromental damage that
its mining does will act as a brake on the implementation of
the "hydrogen economy."

Years ago I was involved in a venture that used iridium crucibles in
a crystal making process. The value of our iridium shot up
dramtically when it was realized by the oil industry that iridium,
which was then cheaper than platinum, could be used instead of
platinum, as a catalyst in the refining of oil. So in a short period
of time a lot of platinum was exchanged for iridium. A pure
arbitrage play based on substitution. The companies made money.

I bring this up because as the price of platinum continues to rise
to meet the demand of the hydrogen economy, current users of
platinum will look for substitutes. I think that there will be
marginal platinum supply increases because most of the susbstitutes
are other Platinum Group Metals, whose output is dependent on the
amount of material that is mined to find the platinum.

At some point the value of platinum will increase to a level that
NEO exploitation reaches a tolerable risk threshold for private
ventures.

This is the point where great things can happen.

Or we chicken out in the face of those unknowns and retreat from the
hydrogen economy back to fossil fuels are some other process. Or we
find a substitute for platinum. I think the last is going to be hard
to do because the incentive is there right now for a substitute
because of the high cost of platinum. Perhaps the need for platinum
in the cycle is as basic as it can get and there is no substitute.
By this I mean, is there a substitute for Oxygen in the H20 of
water. No there isn't.

> Assuming that economic costs are the only hinderance
> to making platinum catalysts extremely environmentally
> friendly, how much lower costs would be needed to
> happen to make it a greener alternative?
>
> Ryan

I'm not quite sure what you're asking here. Could you please
elaborate.

TangoMan