Resources for Carbon Neutrality: What Are They, Are They Available, and Where Will They Come From?

Presenter

Adam C. Simon, Ph.D.
Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences
The University of Michigan

Description

What does carbon neutrality mean? What does it require? Is it possible? In this presentation, I will contextualize carbon neutrality through the lens of the metal resources required to make a global #electrifyeverything built environment possible. Renewable energy resources such as batteries, photovoltaic solar panels and wind turbines require a large number of metals, including aluminum, copper, gold, nickel, tellurium, cobalt, indium, selenium, tin, zinc, chromium and many others. Where do those metals come from? What are the geologic constraints on their availability? What are the economic constraints on their availability? What are the political constraints on their availability? Please join me for a discussion of where we are with respect to energy consumption and what is required to transition to carbon neutrality.