Lithium and many more. a recent study by the international energy agency looked at how much of those minerals are used in different electricity sources. for 1 megawatt of capacity, enough to power over 800 american homes, a natural gas inplant takes about a thousand kill agrams of minerals to construct. for a coal plant, it s about 2,500 kilograms. for a megawatt of solar power, the fuel is free, of course, but the panel takes almost 7,000 kilograms of minute nerls. onshore wind takes about 10,000 kilograms. offshore, more than 15,000. keep in mind. the sun doesn t always shine and the wind doesn t always blow, so you have to build extra solar panels and wind turbines to replace a fossil fuel plant. when it comes to transportation, the average gas-powered car contains about 35 kilograms of scarce metals, mostly copper and