A Matter of Scale: Copper

If the profession, artform, and field of plumbing were to have an emblem to symbolise it, copper pipes would most certainly be a featuring aspect of it. Time tested, durable, hygienic, and pretty to boot, copper is familiar in the hands of plumbers all over the world.

And the same could be said of an electrician’s emblem – the core conductive material running through the heart of it.

We’ll be exploring its existence and significance in a broader scale.

Copper in the Crust

Of all the copper on Earth, we know of around 2.6 billion Tonnes of copper to exist. If we pulled it all together to form one giant cube, that’s around 290 million cubic meters: over half a kilometre in each dimension. Its foot print would look something like this:
The Metal of Dawn
Not just for its sunny sheen, Copper was the first metal to be used by humans. The oldest uncovered copper tool was dated back as far as 5100 B.C, and historical records suggest that copper has been in use for over 10,000 years. While that may seem like a long time ago in terms of modern technology – for perspective, the earliest ‘complex’ stone tools date as far back as 1,760,000 years ago. So on a geological time frame, you could argue that we’re still in the ‘copper age’.

Copper Production

At global scales, resource measurements become nigh incomprehensible – especially for one as ubiquitous as copper. Around 18 million tonnes of the stuff is pulled from the Earth every year. For scale, the Eiffel Tower is just 7341 tons. That’s almost 2500 Eiffel Towers every year.

On top of that, annual demand for copper is rising. It’s rising exponentially. Over half a million tons of extra copper is added to that number every year.

Peak Copper

The same principle as Peak Oil. That is, the year in which the production of copper reaches its highest point in history, with a falling trend after that year. Above the ongoing global conversation of finite fuels, it’s easy to overlook finite resources of a more material nature. But like all materials on Earth, they run out eventually.

However, the severity of Peak Copper is less of a concern than Oil, for a raft of reasons. Alternative materials and technology for electrical transmission and water transportation are already available for use – in other words, there won’t be a comparable technological crash. And unlike oil, copper is used as matter, and therefore can be repurposed and recycled.

The predicted dates for when we’ll hit a significant date for Peak Copper ranges broadly between 2025 and 2100. These predictions are sketchy though, since new deposits are still being found fairly frequently, is relatively abundant when compared to other materials, and the continuously development of extraction techniques allow poorer deposits to be exploited more efficiently.

If not to eliminate the problem, but rather to forestall the date, unconventional methods of copper extraction are also on the table. Over 700 million tons of Copper are estimated to sit beneath the sea bed.

The most obvious and easiest to implement is recycling – a process that has already become an established part of society. With the value of copper being significant enough to be a motivating factor of separating it from the metaphorical yoghurt pots itself, this solution near enough implements itself.