neo magnet manufacturing energy costs

[bob golding]

hi all,

someone asked me how much energy it takes to product a set of neo magnets. i have had a quick google and looked in the archives but cant find an answer anywhere. i know the old type solar panels from 15 years ago used more energy to manufacture than you ever got out of them,not sure if that is still true,but never really thought about the energy used to make neo,s till now. i can find out the volume of  neodynium SP? ore from the base rock ok but stuck on the manufacturing process costs. this came about after a radio program about the cost of green beans being flown in to the uk from africa about 4000 miles i think, compared with the same product being grown in hot houses in holland. seems it is is less enviromentally damaging to fly them in than grow them in artificial conditions. no real surprizes there. i think if you want green beans in winter go live in africa.

bob golding

[Nando]

a fast calculation for solar panels

0.120 kilowatts * 5 hours/day * 365 days/year * 25 years = 5475 kw/life-time

Now examine the sale price and estimate the profits for the manufacturer and retail to find the production cost and the material cost, which includes the energy used to produce it.

You will find out that there is a fallacy in the statement.

Nando

[elt]

Well, the energy cost can't be greater than the sale price or the manufacturers and distributors would be losing money ... so if we save energy buying and using them they they are green. (So everyone get those mills up in the air!)

- Ed.

[richhagen]

I am not certain as to the energy required for manufacture, but it would be difficult to believe it would equal the power that could be produced in turbine use.  Take for example a 1" by 2" by .5" magnet on a 10 foot dual rotor turbine.  If the magnet lasts for 10 years (all other repairs aside) then if the average output over the life of the turbine was just 25 watts, which should be incredibly low.  Then the watt hours produced would be equal to 25 watts times 24 hours per day times 365 days per year, times 10 years, or 2,190,000 watt hours.  For each of the 24 magnets used this would then be 91.25Kwh.  

I also find it difficult to believe that all things considered, my old vintage 1980's Arco panels took more energy to make than they have produced.  They still output about 1.86 amps at about 16 volts, or about 30 Watts.  Now they are more than 20 years old, probably about 25.  I don't know their exact history before I got them, or what percentage survived to this ripe old age.  For these panels, if they've been toiling in the sun for an average of 3 sun hours a day for 25 years or so, then they should have produced a large amount of energy by now.  30 Watts times 3 hours times 365 days times 25 years equals about 821Kwh of energy.  If half of the panels failed up to this point that is still over 410Kwh of energy.  I don't know how much energy it took to make them, but it seems difficult for me to believe that it could have taken nearly that much energy per panel.  Rich

[boB]

>>30 Watts times 3 hours times 365 days times 25 years equals about 821Kwh of energy

At $0.10 per kWh, that would be $82.10 in energy cost.

  Not too far out there I suppose, but I bet it was less than that.  I do know it takes a lot of energy to melt and refine that sand, but how much ??

I know that polarizing a (NeFeB) magnet by discharging a cap doesn't take too much energy, but making the alloy in the first place probably takes a good amount. But how much ?

boB