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250,000
B*, ktoe
200,000
150,000
100,000
Iron
50,000
Copper
0
Silver
Gold
Copper
Iron
Nickel
Lead
Zinc
Fig. 13.25 Natural exergy bonus exhaustion associated with the consumption of the main non-fuel
minerals in Australia from 1965 to 2004
exergy destruction of fossil fuels to the natural exergy bonus destruction of non-fuel
minerals.
To do this, the authors have divided the information into the following com-
modities: coal, oil, natural gas, iron and other non-fuel metals. Iron is categorised
in this way because its exergy cost is significantly greater than the rest of the metals
and is comparable to that of fuel minerals. Furthermore, two periods of time have
been considered: 1914 to 1968 and 1969 to 2007 (before and after significant oil and
natural gas production).
As can be seen in Fig. 13.26, exergy consumption for the first period considered
was clearly dominated by the extraction of coal and to a lesser extent to that of
iron, especially towards the end. The global extraction trend increased very rapidly,
60,000
B*, ktoe
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
Oil
Coal
10,000
Iron
0
Other metals
Other metals
Iron
Oil
N.G.
Coal
Fig. 13.26 Natural bonus depletion of the main fuel and non-fuel minerals in Australia from 1914
to 1968
 
 
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