Fig. 1 - Minerals used in clean energy technologies compared to other power generation sources (kg/MW)
Copper
Nickel
Manganese
Cobalt
Chromium
Molybdenum
Zinc
Rare
earths
Silicon
Others
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
10,000
11,000
12,000
13,000
14,000
15,000
Offshore wind
8,000
240
790
0
525
109
5,500
239
0
6
Onshore wind
2,900
403.5
780
470
99
5,500
14
0
Solar PV
2,822.1
1.3
0
0
0
0
29.99
3,948.3
31.95
Nuclear
1,473
1,297.4
147.69
0
2,190
70.8
0
0.5
0
94.28
Coal
1,150
721.04
4.63
201.46
307.5
66.25
0
0
0
33.9
Natural gas
1,100
15.75
1.8
48.34
0
0
0
0
0
