Scholarly Resources

Draft Critical Mineral List—Summary of Methodology and Background Information

Based on an analysis using multiple criteria explained below, 35 minerals or mineral material groups have been identified that are currently (February 2018) considered critical. Draft Critical Mineral List—Summary of Methodology and Background Information—U.S. Geological Survey Technical Input Document in Response to Secretarial Order No. 3359

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Critical mineral resources of the United States—Economic and environmental geology and prospects for future supply

Why We Need to Care About Critical Materials From the Stone Age to the present, mineral commodities have been essential ingredients for building and advancing civilization. Products built with materials derived from mineral resources include homes and office buildings; cars and roads; computers, televisions, and smartphones; and jet fighters and other military hardware needed to defend the Nation. In short, minerals are essential to advance and protect modern society.

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Earth-abundant catalysts for electrochemical and photoelectrochemical water splitting

Sunlight is by far the most plentiful renewable energy resource, providing Earth with enough power to meet all of humanity’s needs several hundred times over. However, it is both diffuse and intermittent, which presents problems regarding how best to harvest this energy and store it for times when the sun is not shining. This review investigates progress towards such electrocatalysts, with special emphasis on how they might be incorporated into photoelectrocatalytic water-splitting systems and the challenges that remain in developing these devices.

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Review of electrical energy storage technologies, materials and systems: challenges and prospects for large-scale grid storage

This article provides a comprehensive review of electrical energy storage technologies, materials and systems, and recent advances as well as challenges yet to overcome. With the explosive growth in intermittent renewable resources and energy demand, it is important to figure out ways to develop suitable electrical energy storage technologies to fully address the widely varying needs for large-scale electrical storage. Examples of recent success in using earth-abundant materials for other electrochemical energy applications can be found in the paper.

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Life Cycle Assessment of Metals: A Scientific Synthesis

Life Cycle Assessment of Metals: A Scientific Synthesis. We have assembled extensive information on the cradle-to-gate environmental burdens of 63 metals in their major use forms, and illustrated the interconnectedness of metal production systems. Related cumulative energy use, global warming potential, human health implications and ecosystem damage are estimated by metal life cycle stage (i.e., mining, purification, and refining). Philip Nuss, Matthew J. Eckelman, Plos.org

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Substitution strategies for reducing the use of rare earths in wind turbines

Resources Policy Like many other low-carbon energy technologies, wind energy is currently at risk due to potential bottlenecks in its dependence on critical rare earth elements such as Nd, Pr, Dy, and Tb, which are used in permanent magnet synchronous generators. This paper evaluates up-to-date substitution ideas for meeting a projected estimation of increase in total annual demand for rare earths, which is 1.7 times from 2015 to 2020.

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