Sustainable (adj) – a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged.

The mining of diamonds out of the Earth is by definition not sustainable and is getting less sustainable every year. Over 6 billion carats of diamonds have been extracted from the Earth since antiquity, whereas only 1.2 billion carats of mineable diamonds are estimated to remain in the Earth today according to the public filings of the De Beers and the other large diamond mining companies. In other words, diamonds are forever, but diamond mines are not.

Earth mining diamonds requires diesel and dynamite, growing diamonds only requires carbon and electricity.  Because carbon is abundant, and electricity can be sourced from renewable sources, laboratory-grown diamonds are truly sustainable. Recently there has been some pushback by the earth mining industry claiming the energy to create laboratory grown diamonds is not as eco-friendly as claimed, since much of the electricity required is derived from coal fired energy producers. This is true, however, where possible the laboratory factories are using renewable sources and have future goals to use more and more renewable energy sources as they become available. The lab growing industry has at its core the philosophy of being ethical and environmentally friendly. There is little opportunity for the mining industry to migrate to eco-friendly systems.

Carbon

Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe. There are about 65,500 billion metric tons of carbon on Earth, which is far more carbon than will ever be required to fulfil humanity’s demand for diamonds.

Electricity

It requires approximately 750 kilowatt hours of electricity to grow a 1 carat diamond. That same amount of electricity could power the average household for 25 days.

Because the only way to survive today and in the future, is to reduce waste and limit our impact on the environment, and as more renewable resources and clean energy become available, diamonds will be grown anywhere in the world where abundant solar, hydro, geothermal, or wind energy, is available because the finished product is light, easy to ship, and has a shelf life of … forever.

Many of Adamastar’s suppliers are already using renewable energy to grow diamonds, and more are actively building production facilities, such as a hydro powered diamond production facility under construction in Washington State.