This article is also featured in Energy Insights, which reflects a sample of ongoing research across the Center for Energy Studies’ diverse programmatic areas, all addressing the ever-evolving energy challenges across Texas, the U.S., and the globe. Read more from the inaugural edition.
Reaching global net-zero goals by 2050 requires a significant transformation of the energy mix toward cleaner energy sources and technologies. Therefore, it requires greater supplies of critical minerals, which include copper, nickel, cobalt, lithium, and rare earths. Electrifying economies in ways that reduce the use of hydrocarbon fuels supposes not only massive expansion of the electricity transmission networks, but also large deployment of storage and battery technologies and significant presence of electric vehicles (EVs). These changes also require much larger amounts of minerals and materials; for instance, an EV requires six times more minerals than the typical internal combustion energy vehicle.[1]
Figure 1 — Expected Copper Demand to 2050 by Scenario