What's so critical about metals? - Resources for the renewable revolution

What's so critical about metals? - Resources for the renewable revolution with Prof Martin Smith on Wednesday 12 June
Renewable energy and the shift to sustainable transport means that we now need to supply of a range of materials that haven't previously been produced at the necessary scale, whilst recycling cannot meet the expanding demand. This includes lithium and cobalt for rechargable batteries, selenium and tellurium for solar cells, and the rare earth elements (particularly praseodymium, neodymium and dysprosium) for high strength magnets - fundamental components of turbines and low-weight high-efficiency electric motors. The combination of the use in key technologies with geopolitical supply restrictions on some elements has led to the idea of critical metals. Focussing on the rare earth elements, this talk will examine the issues of supply of these elements and the geological controls on where they occur and how they can be produced.
Martin Smith is Professor of Geochemistry in School of Environment and Technology, University of Brighton. Martin is a geologist, geochemist and mineralogist, and has 25 years experience in geochemistry applied to problems in mineral deposit geology, hydrogeology and environmental mineralogy. He is currently a researcher on the NERC SoS:RARE project, investigating geological controls on a secure and environmentally acceptable supply of rare earth elements for the low carbon economy.
Doors open 7:15pm, talk starts at 8:00pm.