Karan Bhuwalka: Guiding What to Build in the Supply Chain of Energy Technologies

Climate and Energy
Climate New Research
Climate and Industry
Material and energy supply chains
Author

Climate Guest Speakers

Published

October 6, 2025

Title

Karan Bhuwalka: Guiding What to Build in the Supply Chain of Energy Technologies

Time

October 6, 2025

6:00PM - 7:00PM ET

Venue

Online via Zoom. Please register to participate.

About

Dr. Bhuwalka will share his background and research on supply chains for energy technologies, focusing on the challenges of material supply chains and how economics and modeling can inform policies. He will discuss the geopolitical implications of concentrating supply chains for energy technologies, highlighting concerns about trade tensions and disruptions due to natural hazards or export restrictions. Karan will discuss the complex interplay between energy technologies, supply chains, and environmental impacts, emphasizing the need for integrated policy approaches.

Speaker

Bio

Dr. Karan Bhuwalka leads the materials supply chain modeling at STEER, a research group that conducts rigorous techno-economic analysis to guide investment, innovation, and policy for the energy transition. Karan’s research integrates economics, statistics, manufacturing and materials science to identify pathways to sustainably scale-up critical minerals production. Scaling-up energy supply chains rapidly while minimising life-cycle impacts requires aligning technology, markets and policies. STEER takes a systems approach that links engineering process models with supply and demand considerations to inform decision-making under uncertainty. Karan’s current work is focused on modeling graphite production. Previous work spans lithium, nickel, recycled plastics systems and Bayesian modeling to reduce uncertainity in material demand.

Readings