Ep 4 | How Sustainable Is the Critical Mineral Supply Chain, and Can We Rethink Criticality?

In this episode of the Energy Transition Talk, we explore our relationship with critical minerals. First, Paulina chats with Lauren Bridges, who researches industrial scale computing at Harvard University, and Zane Cooper, who researches digital media infrastructure and rare earth mineral extraction at the University of Pennsylvania. Lauren and Zane have also formed a research collaboration on critical minerals and e-waste. They talk about what critical materials are and why they matter for the energy transition, the relationship between the energy transition and the digital transformation, reframing energy as a dynamic process and a relationship rather than a material that we need to produce, rethinking the infrastructure design in our society and shifting energy demand, the e-waste feedback loop, and more. Justine then speaks with Prachotan Bathi, a Master’s student in computer science at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, who works for a cleantech startup that identifies sustainable lithium mining sites for the EV supply chain. They discuss the importance of lithium as a critical mineral for the energy transition, the environmental footprint of lithium mining and EVs compared to gas vehicles, the ways companies are working to make lithium mining more sustainable, and the biggest challenges and opportunities of lithium mining.

01:54 Interview with Lauren Bridges and Zane Cooper

52:06 Interview with Prachotan Bathi

1:11:00 Concluding Remarks

Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast so you can automatically get access to our new episodes – you can find us on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we would appreciate it so much if you could leave a rating and review. Special thanks to our guests for today and Abhi, our technical guru, for their important contributions to today’s episode. This podcast is sponsored by the USC Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition.

Referenced in this Episode and Additional Resources:

• Cara New Daggett, The Birth of Energy: Fossil Fuels, Thermodynamics, and the Politics of Work, https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-birth-of-energy

• Josh Lepawsky, Reassembling Rubbish: Worlding Electronic Waste, https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262535335/reassembling-rubbish/

• Josh Lepawsky and Max Liboiron, Discard Studies: Wasting, Systems, and Power, https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/5337/Discard-StudiesWasting-Systems-and-Power

• Max Liboiron, Pollution Is Colonialism, https://www.dukeupress.edu/pollution-is-colonialism

• U.S. Department of Energy, Critical Minerals and Materials Program, https://www.energy.gov/cmm/critical-minerals-materials-program

• U.S. Department of Energy, “What are Critical Materials and Critical Minerals?”, https://www.energy.gov/cmm/what-are-critical-materials-and-critical-minerals#:~:text=DOE%20has%20determined%20the%20final,silicon%2C%20silicon%20carbide%20and%20terbium

• Sierra Club Working Group on Lithium Mining, “Guidance on Lithium Mining and Extraction” (Aug. 23, 2021), https://andthewest.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Lithium-Mining-Guidelines_approved_13Nov20214.pdf

Disclaimer: The views, information, or opinions expressed during the Energy Transition Talk series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of the Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition (E-CET) or the producers of this podcast.