Wind turbines and hybrid cars are two of the green energies most reliant on a handful of special metals called rare earths. They are the building blocks for magnets that power everything from the neodymium in the rechargeable batteries of your E.V. to the Lanthanum and Praeseodimium in the drive trains that make them go. However, producing rare earths is hard. Moreover, the world needs help to develop its processing capacity and break Beijing’s export stranglehold. The global demand for these metals is expected to grow exponentially as we transition away from fossil fuels and toward a more energy-efficient economy. … Continue reading China’s Rare Earth Monopoly: A Threat to the Clean Energy Transition?