Shortage of Copper

Apparently we are running short of Copper.
It's a good idea to switch to wind turbines, electric vehicles and domestic heating using electricity, but the problem with everything being powered by electricity is the fact cables and motor windings require huge amounts of Copper. Add to this the fact that copper is also used widely in the pluming trade.

As one door opens, another one closes.....

Cochilco forecasts global copper deficit in 2020, price up to $2.85 per lb
The supply-demand dynamics in the global copper market were likely to turn into a deficit in 2020, helping to boost the average price to $2.85 per lb during the year, Chilean state copper commission Cochilco said on Thursday January 30.

The shortage of copper output to meet expected demand was expected because the world’s consumption of the red metal will go up this year while the volume of copper scrap processing will diminish, Cochilco added.
It suggested a figure for the estimated deficit of 22,000 tonnes.
The average copper price will then rise further in 2021, Cochilco said, reaching $2.95 per lb, despite fundamentals swinging back to a surplus of 88,000 tonnes. The commission calculated that the surplus in 2019 reached 50,000 tonnes globally.

Re: Shortage of Copper

I post on a US electrical forum. They tend to favour aluminium for cabling. It isn't as good a conductor, lower conductivity, but it evidently cheaper for them.

We put high current (40kA) rectifiers in an anodising plant here. The bars feeding the tanks were aluminium, I assume on cost grounds.

Re: Shortage of Copper

We had a flirtation with aluminium cables in the 1980s being used in domestic properties. Absolute crap. Not only did they have to have a copper coating to stop it oxidising and make it more conductive, the cables had to be twice the size of copper cables, you couldn't tighten up the connection terminals without damaging the cable.

Re: Shortage of Copper

Another issue with the aluminum is it expands and contracts with heat more than copper and that tends to loosen connections. Not well suited for homes. For years mobile homes over here were constructed with aluminum wiring as it was cheaper than copper. So many of those homes burned as a result of electrical issues, it was eventually banned.

Re: Shortage of Copper

I was told that there was a copper shortage back in the sixties, our house had some of the central heating finished in iron, which of course rusted out, fortunately we had it replaced some time ago..

Re: Shortage of Copper

God help us then if the price of copper scrap goes up, no doubt the usual suspects will be back to their old tricks of nicking cables from the railways and all of the piping from empty houses, and without bothering to turn the water off first.

Re: Shortage of Copper

Yes, I remember that happening not so long ago, the latter happened to my sister's house just before she completed her house purchase.

Re: Shortage of Copper

I worked in a house some years ago that had been sold by auction. The new owners moved in and nothing in the house worked, sockets, lights, central heating, all kaput. They asked me to investigate and upon lifting the floorboards to trace the wiring, it had all gone along with all the central heating pipes. They'd left the sockets on the wall so for all intents and purposes, you wouldn't realise anything was wrong.

It turns out that the previous owner was a drug addict, and he's sold all the copper to feed his addiction.

Must take my scrap copper in and get some cash for it while the price is high.

Re: Shortage of Copper

Nasty. I wonder how they got on? ie who paid for it to be put right? I doubt drug boy could pay.

Re: Shortage of Copper

I am not promoting the use of Al. Just commenting on it.