Critical Materials for Low-Carbon Technologies in US Markets

Abstract

The deployment of any new technology at large scale burdens the supply of the materials from which it is made, and the availability (or lack thereof) of those materials can, in turn, impact the deployment of the technology. Here, I describe the impact of materials availability on the progress of recently emerging technologies, and identify materials that may be needed in a growing clean energy economy. Based on anticipated needs and recent case studies, I offer approaches to the problem that may be effective in reducing the threat of material unavailability as a barrier to clean energy deployment.