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“High Demand, Uncertain Supply: Critical Minerals and Renewable Energy” will be the topic of the latest webinar in the Energy Lecture Series presented by Washington & Jefferson College Center for Energy Policy and Management.
The hour-long webinar is set for 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 9, and will feature Dr. Nedal T. Nassar, chief of the Materials Flow Analysis Section at the National Minerals Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey.
With the continuing increase in the use of renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, and batteries for electric vehicles and storage, the need for critical minerals such as arsenic, magnesium, graphite, lithium and rare earth metals will also rise. While the energy produced by renewables is carbon-free, the minerals needed to build the solar panels, wind turbines and batteries still must be mined, and the U.S. is wholly or heavily dependent on foreign countries, including China, Canada, and Mexico, for much of the supply. This presents both national security and environmental concerns.
Dr. Nassar will discuss these critical minerals, and the national security challenges that the U.S. faces in securing an adequate supply, finding new technologies to produce them, and ways to meet environmental goals and recycle.
At the USGS, Dr. Nassar and his team quantify the global stocks and flows of nonfuel mineral commodities at each stage of their life cycle, analyze trends and examine concerns regarding foreign mineral dependencies, develop supply and demand scenarios, and assess the mineral commodity supply risk to the U.S. economy and national security.
He received his Ph.D. from Yale University, where he worked on the development and application of a methodology for assessing critical minerals. He has been a leading member of the U.S. National Science and Technology Council Critical Minerals Subcommittee. In 2019, he was was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government to outstanding scientists and engineers who are beginning their independent research careers. His research has been published in several high-profile journals.
The Washington County Bar Association will offer continuing legal education credit for its members attending the seminar.
To register for this exciting webinar, please click here, or call Linda Ritzer at 412-997-3164 for more information.