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Olympic Gold Medals Have Almost Zero Gold in Them

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The 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games are already 51% over budget, with the total cost expected to be in the $4.6 billion range. With that in mind, the organizers have tried their best to cut costs.

One area of compromise?

The Olympic gold medals, which weigh 500g (1.1 lbs) and are 85mm (3.3 in) in diameter, are gold in name only.

Olympic Gold Medals Have Almost Zero Gold in Them

Today’s infographic comes from JM Bullion and it shows the real amount of metal in gold, silver, and bronze medals, along with the hypothetical cost of awarding solid gold to winning athletes.

Olympic Gold Medals Have Almost Zero Gold in Them

All That Glitters is…Silver

That’s right, gold medals are actually 98.8% silver, with just a thin 1.2% coat of gold paint. The thin layer of gold meets the minimum requirement set by IOC says for the amount of gold actually in the gold medal – just six grams.

The material cost of a gold medal right now based on this composition is $548. Almost half of that comes from the six grams of gold, while the rest comes from the 494 grams of sterling silver.

The silver and bronze medals have material costs of $292 and $2.16 respectively.

Why Doesn’t the Olympics Use Solid Gold Medals?

Solid gold medals haven’t been awarded to Olympic athletes since the 1912 Stockholm Games. Back then, medals were a mere 33mm in diameter and made of silver gilded with gold. It’s easy to see why organizers have gone this route when you take into account the difference in material costs.

Each gold medal at the Rio Games currently costs $548 for materials – if they were solid gold that cost would balloon to $21,674 per medal. That means that if all 812 gold medals were solid gold, the tab would be a grand total of $17.6 million. That’s not including minting or additional security costs, either.

With the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games already 51% over budget, we can forgive the organizers for sticking to the minimum required amount of gold for each medal.

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Mining

Mapped: Solar Power by Country in 2021

In 2020, solar power saw its largest-ever annual capacity expansion at 127 gigawatts. Here’s a snapshot of solar power capacity by country.

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Solar Power by Country

Mapped: Solar Power by Country in 2021

This was originally posted on Elements. Sign up to the free mailing list to get beautiful visualizations on natural resource megatrends in your email every week.

The world is adopting renewable energy at an unprecedented pace, and solar power is the energy source leading the way.

Despite a 4.5% fall in global energy demand in 2020, renewable energy technologies showed promising progress. While the growth in renewables was strong across the board, solar power led from the front with 127 gigawatts installed in 2020, its largest-ever annual capacity expansion.

The above infographic uses data from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) to map solar power capacity by country in 2021. This includes both solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power capacity.

The Solar Power Leaderboard

From the Americas to Oceania, countries in virtually every continent (except Antarctica) added more solar to their mix last year. Hereโ€™s a snapshot of solar power capacity by country at the beginning of 2021:

CountryInstalled capacity, megawattsWatts* per capita% of world total
China ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ 254,35514735.6%
U.S. ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ 75,57223110.6%
Japan ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต 67,0004989.4%
Germany ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช 53,7835937.5%
India ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ 39,211325.5%
Italy ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น 21,6003453.0%
Australia ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ 17,6276372.5%
Vietnam ๐Ÿ‡ป๐Ÿ‡ณ 16,504602.3%
South Korea ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ท 14,5752172.0%
Spain ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ 14,0891862.0%
United Kingdom ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง 13,5632001.9%
France ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท 11,7331481.6%
Netherlands ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ 10,2133961.4%
Brazil ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท 7,881221.1%
Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท 6,668730.9%
South Africa ๐Ÿ‡ฟ๐Ÿ‡ฆ 5,990440.8%
Taiwan ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ผ 5,8171720.8%
Belgium ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ช 5,6463940.8%
Mexico ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฝ 5,644350.8%
Ukraine ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ 5,3601140.8%
Poland ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฑ 3,936340.6%
Canada ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ 3,325880.5%
Greece ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท 3,2472580.5%
Chile ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฑ 3,2051420.4%
Switzerland ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญ 3,1182950.4%
Thailand ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ญ 2,988430.4%
United Arab Emirates ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ช 2,5391850.4%
Austria ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡น 2,2201780.3%
Czech Republic ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฟ 2,0731940.3%
Hungary ๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡บ 1,9531310.3%
Egypt ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ฌ 1,694170.2%
Malaysia ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡พ 1,493280.2%
Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ 1,4391340.2%
Russia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ 1,42870.2%
Sweden ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช 1,417630.2%
Romania ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ด 1,387710.2%
Jordan ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ด 1,3591000.2%
Denmark ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ 1,3001860.2%
Bulgaria ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ฌ 1,0731520.2%
Philippines ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ญ 1,04890.1%
Portugal ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡น 1,025810.1%
Argentina ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ท 764170.1%
Pakistan ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฐ 73760.1%
Morocco ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฆ 73460.1%
Slovakia ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฐ 593870.1%
Honduras ๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡ณ 514530.1%
Algeria ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฟ 448100.1%
El Salvador ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ป 429660.1%
Iran ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท 41450.1%
Saudi Arabia ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฆ 409120.1%
Finland ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฎ 391390.1%
Dominican Republic ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ด 370340.1%
Peru ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ช 331100.05%
Singapore ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ 329450.05%
Bangladesh ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ฉ 30120.04%
Slovenia ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฎ 2671280.04%
Uruguay ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡พ 256740.04%
Yemen ๐Ÿ‡พ๐Ÿ‡ช 25380.04%
Iraq ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ถ 21650.03%
Cambodia ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ญ 208120.03%
Cyprus ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡พ 2001470.03%
Panama ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฆ 198460.03%
Luxembourg ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡บ 1952440.03%
Malta ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡น 1843120.03%
Indonesia ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ 17210.02%
Cuba ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡บ 163140.02%
Belarus ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡พ 159170.02%
Senegal ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ณ 15580.02%
Norway ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ด 152170.02%
Lithuania ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡น 148370.02%
Namibia ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฆ 145550.02%
New Zealand ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟ 142290.02%
Estonia ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ช 130980.02%
Bolivia ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ด 120100.02%
Oman ๐Ÿ‡ด๐Ÿ‡ฒ 109210.02%
Colombia ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ด 10720.01%
Kenya ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ช 10620.01%
Guatemala ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡น10160.01%
Croatia ๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡ท 85170.01%
World total ๐ŸŒŽ 713,97083100.0%

*1 megawatt = 1,000,000 watts.

China is the undisputed leader in solar installations, with over 35% of global capacity. What’s more, the country is showing no signs of slowing down. It has the worldโ€™s largest wind and solar project in the pipeline, which could add another 400,000MW to its clean energy capacity.

Following China from afar is the U.S., which recently surpassed 100,000MW of solar power capacity after installing another 50,000MW in the first three months of 2021. Annual solar growth in the U.S. has averaged an impressive 42% over the last decade. Policies like the solar investment tax credit, which offers a 26% tax credit on residential and commercial solar systems, have helped propel the industry forward.

Although Australia hosts a fraction of Chinaโ€™s solar capacity, it tops the per capita rankings due to its relatively low population of 26 million people. The Australian continent receives the highest amount of solar radiation of any continent, and over 30% of Australian households now have rooftop solar PV systems.

China: The Solar Champion

In 2020, President Xi Jinping stated that China aims to be carbon neutral by 2060, and the country is taking steps to get there.

China is a leader in the solar industry, and it seems to have cracked the code for the entire solar supply chain. In 2019, Chinese firms produced 66% of the worldโ€™s polysilicon, the initial building block of silicon-based photovoltaic (PV) panels. Furthermore, more than three-quarters of solar cells came from China, along with 72% of the worldโ€™s PV panels.

With that said, itโ€™s no surprise that 5 of the worldโ€™s 10 largest solar parks are in China, and it will likely continue to build more as it transitions to carbon neutrality.

Whatโ€™s Driving the Rush for Solar Power?

The energy transition is a major factor in the rise of renewables, but solarโ€™s growth is partly due to how cheap it has become over time. Solar energy costs have fallen exponentially over the last decade, and itโ€™s now the cheapest source of new energy generation.

Since 2010, the cost of solar power has seen a 85% decrease, down from $0.28 to $0.04 per kWh. According to MIT researchers, economies of scale have been the single-largest factor in continuing the cost decline for the last decade. In other words, as the world installed and made more solar panels, production became cheaper and more efficient.

This year, solar costs are rising due to supply chain issues, but the rise is likely to be temporary as bottlenecks resolve.

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