Field notes The Energy Transition for the Rest of Us

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Critical minerals

24 notes · Catalyst 13 · Critical Capital 4 · Steel For Fuel 7

  1. Critical Capital · 1 Sep 2026 What it takes to build in America again with Erin Price-Wright, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, investing in energy, mining and heavy industry for the firm’s American Dynamism practice; previously an engineer at Palantir Now that capital has arrived for factories, mines and grid hardware, what actually decides whether they get built in the United States?
  2. Critical Capital · 4 Aug 2026 Thom Tillis on energy, China, and leaving the Senate with Thom Tillis, United States Senator (Republican, North Carolina), not seeking re-election; formerly speaker in the North Carolina legislature and a partner at Price Waterhouse Why can’t the United States hold an energy policy together across a change of administration, and what would it take to build one that survives?
  3. Critical Capital · 9 Jun 2026 The US-China rivalry runs through energy and minerals with Graham Allison, Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at Harvard University, founding dean of the Harvard Kennedy School, author of Destined for War Can the United States and China keep competing without sliding into war?
  4. Critical Capital · 7 May 2026 Can US industrial trade policy stay on course? with Sarah Bianchi, senior managing director and chief strategist of international political affairs and public policy, Evercore; previously Deputy US Trade Representative, responsible for Asia, Africa, the energy transition and critical minerals Now that both parties agree the United States should build more at home, can trade and industrial policy hold a course steady enough for investors to put money behind it?
  5. Steel For Fuel · 3 Mar 2026 The Return of the Energy Transition by Andy Lubershane, Partner and Head of Research, Energy Impact Partners What would it take to get the energy transition moving again after a bad year for it?
  6. Catalyst · 25 Feb 2026 Volts crossover: Six big energy questions with David Roberts, host of the Volts podcast (co-hosted episode; both speakers pose and answer questions) What are the big open questions in energy and climate that we might actually get an answer to within the next five to ten years?
  7. Catalyst · 8 Jan 2026 The VC case for ‘full stack deeptech’ with Ian Rountree, founder and partner, Cantos Which hard technology startups are actually investable at venture pace, and which ones are structurally set up to fail no matter how good the technology is?
  8. Steel For Fuel · 8 Oct 2025 Fusion, and other fusion-level bets: Part I by Andy Lubershane, Partner and Head of Research, Energy Impact Partners Is fusion actually worth a civilizational bet, given that fission already delivers most of what fusion promises?
  9. Catalyst · 26 Jun 2025 GM’s big new battery tech push with Kurt Kelty, vice president of battery, propulsion and sustainability, General Motors General Motors says a manganese-rich cathode chemistry it calls LMR will give it close to high-nickel driving range at lithium iron phosphate cost. What is it, and why should anyone treat this announcement differently from every other battery announcement?
  10. Catalyst · 22 May 2025 What to make of Trump’s deep-sea minerals push with Hans Smit, president and CEO, Ocean Minerals What does the Trump administration’s executive order on deep-sea mining actually change?
  11. Catalyst · 1 May 2025 Catalyst Live at SF Climate Week with Nick Chaset, chief executive, Octopus Energy US; Mike Schroepfer, founder and partner, Gigascale Capital (former chief technology officer of Meta) What is climate tech over-hyping and under-hyping right now, and why does Kann think consumer products account for so many of its few big wins?
  12. Steel For Fuel · 28 Apr 2025 So you want to revolutionize the energy system? by Andy Lubershane, Partner and Head of Research, Energy Impact Partners Why has the energy sector proved so resistant to revolutionary companies, and what separates the ones that work?
  13. Catalyst · 24 Apr 2025 The geopolitics of rare earth elements with Ahmad Ghahreman, co-founder and CEO, Cyclic Materials China controls the rare earth supply chain more completely than any other critical mineral, and has started using that control as leverage. Can a supply chain be built outside it?
  14. Catalyst · 13 Mar 2025 An ode to electrochemistry with Yet-Ming Chiang, professor of materials science and engineering, MIT, and co-founder of Form Energy, Sublime Systems and other electrochemistry companies What is electrochemistry actually good at, and how do you tell which industrial problems are worth pointing it at?
  15. Catalyst · 20 Feb 2025 The promise and perils of sodium-ion batteries with Adrian Yao, founder of the STEER battery research program at Stanford; board member and former co-founder and chief technology officer of the lithium-ion manufacturer EnPower What would it actually take for sodium-ion batteries to beat lithium-ion on cost?
  16. Steel For Fuel · 9 Feb 2025 A tale of two energy superpowers by Andy Lubershane, Partner and Head of Research, Energy Impact Partners Will geopolitics, and specifically conflict between the United States and China, derail the energy transition?
  17. Steel For Fuel · 31 Jan 2025 Is Sodium the new Lithium (ion)? by Andy Lubershane, Partner and Head of Research, Energy Impact Partners Is sodium-ion about to displace lithium-ion?
  18. Catalyst · 6 Jan 2025 Lithium’s wild ride with Ernest Scheyder, senior correspondent, Reuters, and author of The War Below Lithium prices rose steeply and then crashed. What actually caused each half of that, and what decides where the market goes next?
  19. Catalyst · 26 Apr 2024 Building a supply chain for rare earth elements with Ahmad Ghahreman, CEO and co-founder, Cyclic Materials What would it actually take to build a rare earth element supply chain outside China?
  20. Catalyst · 4 Apr 2024 Understanding the growing world of battery recycling with Dan Steingart, chair of the earth and environmental engineering department, Columbia University Battery recycling is technically well understood, so why is it such a hard business, and what would a recycler have to do to make it work?
  21. Catalyst · 14 Mar 2024 Climate tech’s tough year in the public markets with Shanu Mathew, portfolio manager and research analyst, Lazard Almost every climate tech market kept growing through 2023, so why did climate tech stocks fall so far behind the broader market?
  22. Catalyst · 7 Dec 2023 Update: What the new Treasury rules mean for EV supply chains with Sam Jaffe, senior director of business development, Addionics Now that Treasury has defined what counts as a “foreign entity of concern,” can an electric vehicle built on today’s battery supply chain still qualify for the $7,500 tax credit?
  23. Steel For Fuel · 30 May 2023 A Tale of Two Nanettes by Andy Lubershane, Partner and Head of Research, Energy Impact Partners How much time does decarbonization actually have, measured on the scale of a human life, and what does that clock rule in or out?
  24. Steel For Fuel · 25 Apr 2023 Will the EV supply chain hold? by Andy Lubershane, Partner and Head of Research, Energy Impact Partners Will the mineral and manufacturing supply chain behind electric vehicles keep up with the demand the energy transition places on it?