Keeping the United States powered up is taking a lot more juice.
Driven by renewable energy development, data centers, transportation and industry, domestic electricity demand by 2030 is expected to surge 25% over 2023 levels, according to the consulting group ICF International. Power usage already hit an all-time high in 2024.
The cornerstone enabling that growth comprises critical minerals, including more than a dozen rare earth elements. Essential for the economy and national security, the group of 50 federally designated minerals underpins clean energy and military technology, electric vehicle batteries, cell phones, medical devices, the power grid and other advanced systems.
To broaden awareness and understanding of these resources, the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute at Penn State (EESI) is focusing its fall 2025 EarthTalks series on needs, opportunities and research in critical minerals. Ten public seminars through early December will highlight ongoing work and viewpoints both at the University and across the sector, including at the federal level.
All the in-person talks, previewed and linked online, are free, streamed live via Zoom and available for viewing on YouTube. Economic geologist Ned Mamula, recently confirmed as the U.S. Geological Survey director, led off the series in September.
An alumnus of the Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS), Mamula said the University is among roughly a dozen that will anchor an "academic powerhouse" helping secure the future of critical minerals domestically.
"Critical minerals are analogous to a brand-new, perfectly straight, 12-lane-wide interstate highway in the desert," Mamula said. "And it's for Penn State EMS to ride straight into a very bright future for students and faculty."
His remarks, titled "America's Mineral Wealth - An Embarrassment of Riches That Requires an Immediate Critical Minerals Policy Perspective," detailed international imports. The U.S. relies wholly on imports for 29 critical minerals, according to the USGS.
Mamula cited domestic geologic mapping, sustained exploration and engagement from universities as keys to bolstering long-term supply chains. Global demand for critical minerals is expected to nearly triple by 2030, the United Nations has noted.
The EarthTalks seminars promote and encourage Penn State's leadership - including in research and interdisciplinary collaboration - as authorities look to invest in cultivating critical minerals, said Research Professor Timothy White.
"There's every reason to believe we can develop the supply chain we need in North America, and in an environmentally benign and sensitive way," said White, an EESI associate who helped assemble the EarthTalks fall series. "We know how to do this right."
Across the University Park campus, Penn State counts at least 100 faculty members whose work directly or indirectly ties into critical minerals research, said Sarma Pisupati, a professor of energy and mineral engineering and chemical engineering. He directs the Center for Critical Minerals, where researchers developed a patent-pending process that separates elements such as aluminum, cobalt and manganese from acid mine drainage and other solutions.
A source of pollution from 20th-century extraction of coal, copper and zinc, acid mine drainage represents a secondary source for critical minerals that can ease reliance on primary sources - like new mines in the U.S., which could require 10 to 12 years to secure necessary permits - and imports, Pisupati said. A pilot-scale operation at University Park is separating elements as oxides or hydroxides from mine runoff collected in nearby Clearfield County, with ambitions to encourage industry partners to expand the pilot plant to a full-scale facility.
"We can clean up our water," including lakes and streams, Pisupati said in his EarthTalks presentation, "Securing Domestic Critical Mineral Supply Chains: Penn State's Efforts from Lab to Pilot-Scale."
In Pennsylvania, acid mine drainage impairs more than 5,500 miles of streams, according to state Department of Community and Economic Development data cited by Pisupati. The Center for Critical Minerals launched in 2019 and is housed in the EMS Energy Institute.
Lingering waste from 18th- and 19th-century iron production represents another secondary source in the commonwealth, Associate Research Professor Maureen Feineman said in her EarthTalks seminar, "A Critical Legacy: Rare Earth Elements in Waste Products from Historical Mining and Smelting in PA."
Specifically, Feineman has studied potential in iron slag and mine tailings, which have resulted from smelting and milling, respectively. A survey found high concentrations of rare earth elements in those waste products.
"We all know that extractive industries will always come at a cost. There will be impacts," said Feineman, an EESI associate. "But we do have an opportunity to think about the impacts we're going to have and to minimize those impacts to the best of our ability - if we think about it, if we try, if we care."
Thanks in part to its legacy of Pennsylvania minerals research, Penn State is in a prime position to help build supply chains of critical minerals, said Lee Kump, the John Leone Dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. The effort has bipartisan support as a priority for the University, he said.
"We keep running into our alums who are working in this area," Kump said. "They may not have started [their careers] in this area, but they're working in this area [now]."
EMS alumnus David Russ, who serves with Mamula on the Alumni Advisory Board in the Department of Geosciences, organized the EarthTalks series with support from White. An alumni board committee recommended seminars to emphasize prospects in critical minerals and encourage student interest.
"We worked hard to make sure they were diversified in bringing together Penn State scholars in geosciences and in minerals engineering as well as folks from government and from industry," Russ said.
The seminars fit into a larger strategy at Penn State to promote teaching and research about critical minerals. A principal goal is to boost both educational and economic opportunities, including for Pennsylvanians at large, Russ said.
Interest in the EarthTalks series has pleased organizers, with robust turnout in person and online viewership. The next speakers, scheduled for Oct. 27, are White and Nick Sullivan, a postdoctoral scholar in EESI. For details on joining via Zoom, check the EarthTalks webpage.
