We might not have enough minerals for solar panels
We'll need to be mining a dozen times as many metals to meet demand for wind turbines and solar panels by 2050.
Learn more here
Learn more here
Material demands will become hard to ignore if the world’s economies all simultaneously pursue similarly ambitious policies to displace the fossil fuels that currently supply over 80% of all energy. Learn more here
How much minerals are needed?
Wind/solar/batteries require: 1,000% more steel, concrete and glass; 300% more copper; and 4,200%, 2,500%, 1,900%, and 700% more lithium, graphite, nickel, and rare earths, respectively, than fossil fuels, to produce the same amount of energy, according to IEA and others.
Where do these minerals come from?
The U.S. is dependent on imports for 100% of 17 renewables/EV-critical minerals; for 28 others, imports account for >50% of domestic demand. Thus becoming dependent on China and others for the extraction and processing of the minerals needed to make solar, wind, & batteries
Look at the process just for polysilicon
Will the demand for these minerals go down in the future?
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