What Green Costs

Satellite imagery of the lithium mining facilities in the Salar de Atacama, Chile. Created by Oton Barros (DSR/OBT/INPE). Deep in the salt flats of Chile lies the extractive frontier of the renewable energy transition. Clean energy advocates envision an electrified home running on 100 percent renewable energy with a Tesla parked in its garage, solar shingles gleaming on its rooftop, and a smart meter dutifully collecting usage data and uploading it to the cloud. But swim upstream and eventually you arrive at the extractive frontiers of the renewable energy transition. It was 8:45 am on the first day of the 11th Lithium Supply & Markets Conference in the basement level of the W Hotel in Santiago, Chile. There was no way for me to blend in. “Providence College” on my name tag rendered me a curiosity. Still, I was glad I remembered to wear lipstick and that my backpack had straps that converted it into a tote. I found an empty seat in the sea of suits, almost all men but of different ages

What Green Costs Thea Riofrancos Deep in the salt flats of Chile lies the extractive frontier of the renewable energy transition. Clean energy advocates envision an electrified home running on 100 percent renewable energy with a Tesla parked in its garage, solar shingles gleaming on its rooftop, and a smart meter dutifully collecting usage data and uploading it to the cloud. But swim upstream and eventually you arrive at the extractive frontiers of the renewable energy transition. It was 8:45 am on the first day of the 11th Lithium Supply & Markets Conference in the basement level of the W Hot

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