Coal
- Coal may once have been strictly used for children who ended up on Santa’s naughty list, but nowadays steelmaking coal is used to produce the steel in all kinds of popular gifts, including cellphones, bicycles, tools and household appliances.
- Considering ice-skating with family or friends over the holidays? The steel blades on each pair of ice skates required steelmaking coal to produce them.
Sources: Mining.com; Government of B.C.
Copper
- Because it’s so malleable, holiday hobbyists often turn to copper for items such as handmade ornaments and copper holiday wreaths.
- What would the holidays be without the coloured lights? Copper is one of the many elements used to make the lights that make holidays bright.
Sources: Copper.org; U.S. Geological Survey
Zinc
- Who said Christmas trees always come from the forest? Nowadays, many manufacturers look to zinc for their holiday decoration products, which range from zinc Christmas trees to shatterproof tree ornaments.
- The coins that can accumulate after holiday shopping have an important zinc connection. Some Canadian coins are plated with zinc to give them the colour we know and recognize.
Sources: Spectrum Analytic; Click Coins, Walmart
Energy
- Canadians know they don’t have to be cold during the holiday season—a vast percentage of them turn to oil to heat their homes. In Prince Edward Island, oil heats more than 80% of the households, and in Nova Scotia, approximately 50% of households use oil for home heating.
- Struggling for gift ideas this holiday season? Renewable energy gift options may be just the thing for the hard-to-buy-for individual on your list—ideas include biomass camp stoves and solar power device chargers.
Sources: Wikipedia; Statistics Canada; Renewable Energy World
