Environmental Impacts of Critical Minerals Used in the Renewable Technologies Supply Chain

Abstract

Renewable energy technologies are often deemed as clean or net-zero relative to their fossil fuel counterparts. However, the amount of critical minerals used in electric vehicles, solar panels, wind turbines, and battery energy storage systems are often overlooked, but there is evidence that this may be a hot spot for environmental impacts. For example, published studies have found that a typical electric car requires six times the mineral inputs of a conventional car, while an onshore wind plant demands nine times more mineral resources than a gas-fired plant of the same capacity. The paper aims to assess the environmental impacts associated with critical minerals used in some renewable energy technologies. This is achieved by initially determining the future MW capacity of each renewable technology model. The analysis is then followed by a calculation of the quantity of different minerals needed for each model and an examination of the environmental implications associated with their mining and processing activities. The findings provide insights into the specific environmental impacts that arise from increasing demand of solar and wind energy technologies considering different adoption scenarios.