Critical Review

In-Use Stocks of Metals: Status and Implications

Environmental Engineering Program, School of Engineering and Applied Science, and Center for Industrial Ecology, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511
Environ. Sci. Technol., 2008, 42 (19), pp 7038–7045
DOI: 10.1021/es800420p
Publication Date (Web): September 4, 2008
Copyright © 2008 American Chemical Society
* Corresponding author phone: (203) 432-9733; fax: (203) 432-5556; e-mail: thomas.graedel@yale.edu., †

School of Engineering and Applied Science.

, ‡

School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Synopsis

A critical review of the science of estimating in-use stocks of metals, with discussion of future policy relevance, is presented.

Abstract

The continued increase in the use of metals over the 20th century has led to the phenomenon of a substantial shift in metal stocks from the lithosphere to the anthroposphere. Such a shift raises social, economic, and environmental issues that cannot be addressed without quantifying the amount of stock of "metal capital" utilized by society. Estimation of the in-use stock of metals has occurred for at least 70 years, with over 70% of the publications occurring after the year 2000. Despite the long history, this is the first critical review to consolidate current findings, critique methods, and discuss future avenues of research. Only aluminum, copper, iron, lead, and zinc have been studied to any extent. Nonetheless, it is clear that for the more-developed countries, the typical per capita in-use metal stock is between 10 and 15 t (mostly iron). Comparison of the per capita stocks in more-developed countries with those in less-developed countries suggests that if the total world population were to enjoy the same per capita metal stock levels as the more-developed countries, using a similar suite of technologies, the amount of global in-use metal stocks required would be 3−9 times those existing at present.

Two tables containing background information on different metal uses and lifetimes and all of the in-use stock estimates used for this paper. This material is available free of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.

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Article Views: 1,687 Times
Received 11 February 2008
Date accepted 21 July 2008
Published online 4 September 2008
Published in print 1 October 2008
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