Critical Materials for Energy Sustainability and Technology

Critical Materials for Energy Sustainability and Technology:

A Focus on Material Recovery

The National Research Council’s (NRC) Science and Technology for Sustainability Program (STS), in collaboration with the Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences’ Board on Energy and Environmental Systems (BEES), convened a meeting with the participation of a small group of research leaders and technical experts in private industry as well as representatives from government and academia to discuss the criticality of materials used in energy sustainability related technologies. The supply and availability of energy critical materials requires not only overcoming technical challenges as industry and federal research strive to understand physical and chemical behavior of materials and find alternatives, but also policy challenges due to complicated geopolitical relationships. Although there is an emerging body of literature on the technical analyses of market opportunities and new materials, thought leaders from research and development programs in industry are faced with many complex challenges as they attempt to implement strategies and programs to address sustainability. They have few opportunities to engage in dialogue with their counterparts. This meeting provided a much needed venue for that discussion, which targeted the applied side of critical material sustainability. The meeting also focused on the technical hurdles in recovering materials from waste streams, recycling, and/or the potential for using recovered material in product development, and how best to implement sustainability strategies moving forward.

Meeting Participants

William Cassada

Director of Research and Emerging Technologies

Alcoa Technology Center

Linda Gaines

Systems Analyst

Argonne National Laboratory

Martin Green

Materials Research Engineer

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Kurtis Haro

Science Assistant, Directorate for Engineering