Materials Powering the Future of Energy

The Critical Materials Monitor aims to improve understanding of supply chains essential for the energy transition, the transition to more sustainable energy. It offers insights into the critical minerals required, outlines the components of key technologies, and provides in-depth reserve, production, and trade analysis.

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Glass

Glass

Tempered glass in solar PV modules serves as a protective front layer, shielding the photovoltaic cells from environmental elements while allowing sunlight to pass through efficiently for energy conversion. This component does not use large amounts of critical minerals.

Critical minerals used in Glass

This component doesn't use any critical minerals

Traded commodities related to Glass

The United Nations Comtrade database provides detailed trade statistics by product and trading partner. Imported and exported products are classified under the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS system), used uniformly by most customs authorities around the world. Based on the latest update of the HS system and data available in UN Comtrade, you can find below the relevant commodities related to this technology, including their HS codes and full descriptions.

We have classified these technology-related commodities into three groups: Midstream (chemical and material inputs of technology components), Downstream (fully assembled components or products), and Waste/Recycling (including recycled or waste products and components). Commodities are further arranged according to the relevant technology components.

Midstream

Referencing

When citing any information on this website, please use the following citation: Columbia University CGEP. 2024. Critical Materials Monitor. http://criticalmaterialsmonitor.org

Contact

Critical Materials Monitor is run by the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. The project is led by Tom Moerenhout.
Contact us: criticalmaterials@columbia.edu.