The Energy Department on Tuesday injected millions of federal dollars into an ongoing search for more efficient and sustainable ways of producing raw materials needed to make magnets, EV batteries and hydrogen fuel cells — and to see if mining byproducts and e-waste could serve as alternative sources.
DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy unveiled $17 million in appropriated funds to advance more than a dozen small-scale demonstration projects across the country. The funding is moving through DOE’s “critical materials collaborative,” a program launched last year to better coordinate and deepen research around critical minerals and materials.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement that the funds will help ease the nation’s reliance on foreign supplies of critical materials that will underpin a suite of next-generation technologies. “These investments — part of our industrial strategy — will keep America’s growing manufacturing industry competitive while delivering economic benefits to communities nationwide,” said Granholm.
Some recipients of the federal funds are angling to offer up alternatives to materials that are traditionally mined in underground or open-pit mines, and oftentimes dominated by China or Chinese investments.
