Energy, Minerals, and Materials

Featured Publications

The globe at night, lights in populated areas illuminated

Center for Energy Studies | Energy, Minerals, and Materials | News Release

CES Focus on Energy, Minerals & Materials

A new Center for Energy Studies initiative improves understanding of minerals resource development, opportunities and constraints, and their effect on energy markets and geopolitics.

Energy, Minerals, and Materials | Center for Energy Studies | Policy Brief

Minerals and Materials for Energy: We Need to Change Thinking

Center for Energy Studies | Energy, Minerals, and Materials | Testimony

Minerals & Materials Supply Chains — Considerations for Decarbonizing Transportation

Center for Energy Studies | Energy, Minerals, and Materials | Research Paper

Need Nickel? How Electrifying Transport and Chinese Investment Are Playing Out in the Indonesian Archipelago

About the Program

The Energy, Minerals & Materials Program investigates materials supply chain challenges and share findings and recommendations with policymakers and the public alike. Our work spans the periodic table — including elements, minerals and materials key to economic attainment and quality of life — and emphasizes minerals and materials essential to both legacy and alternative energy applications. We include non-defense and defense needs and broader, non-energy industrial uses for overall context and to explore areas of market tension.

Our primary focus is on the elements that are most vulnerable to supply disruption and not easily replaced; their substitutes are difficult and/or expensive to produce and apply. This vulnerable group includes many elements and minerals that may seem widely available but have long histories of supply chain constraints and disruptions. Our ultimate goal is to inform, educate and advise business and policy decision-makers as well as the broader public, especially as new technologies and pursuits push the global energy system envelope.

EMM Roundtables and Events

These discussions and larger events focus on supply chain realization and related commercial, public policy and geopolitical dynamics.

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External Resources and Links

Additional materials are available through U.S. government agencies, universities, and more.

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External Collaborators

We thrive on collaborations between experts within and beyond Rice University.

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Data Visualization

Global Minerals Production
Visit an interactive mapping and data canvas here to explore minerals production around the world. The map includes 36 important minerals used in alternative energy technologies. Users can chart production patterns and trends worldwide, gain better understanding of major producing countries, and visit our source links for original data.

Global Minerals Trade
An interactive mapping and data canvas on minerals trade flows here enables you to follow our research on raw materials trade. Users can observe sources and destinations, top importers and exporters, and regional flows.

For questions, contact Elsie Hung