Energy Security & Resilience

Global research and analysis on energy risks ranging from climate change to resource competition to population and demand growth to governance and infrastructure investment

Global research and analysis on energy risks ranging from climate change to resource competition to population and demand growth to governance and infrastructure investment

Nearly two billion people around the world live in areas and regions that suffer from conflict violence and instability. As we design new energy systems in the developing world, there are energy security and resilience challenges unique to each local environment. This is also true in developed nations that are now going through energy transitions and are creating infrastructure with new renewable energy options. The optimal electrification mix is sensitive to each local environment.

The Payne Institute is recognizing these sensitivities by connecting the breadth of engineering experience across the energy system at the Colorado School of Mines with the public policy world making decisions on energy infrastructure.  By taking a comprehensive look at environmental, economic, political and other elements in each local environment, The Payne Institute is supporting the design and creation of secure and resilient energy systems throughout the globe.

NEWS

Solving the US military’s gallium dilemma requires turning trash into treasure 10/15/2025

Solving the US military’s gallium dilemma requires turning trash into treasure

Payne Institute Communications Associate Macdonald Amoah, Director Morgan D. Bazilian, Fellow Lt. Col. Jahara “Franky” Matisek, and Col. Katrina Schweiker write about how China announced export licensing for gallium and germanium, sharply restricting flows and creating immediate friction across global supply chains.  Even though gallium has an outsized yet overlooked strategic value, United States produces no domestic gallium.  October 15, 2025.

Quantum Sensing and the Future of Warfare: Five Essential Reforms to Stay Competitive 10/9/2025

Quantum Sensing and the Future of Warfare: Five Essential Reforms to Stay Competitive

Payne Institute Fellow Jahara Matisek, Katrina Schweiker, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how quantum sensing is primed for a breakout that will radically change both conventional and nuclear warfare, requiring essential reforms for the Department of Defense (recently renamed to the Department of War) to maintain a competitive advantage.  October 9, 2025.

The Future of AI Runs Through Indian Country 10/1/2025

The Future of AI Runs Through Indian Country

Payne Institute NAMES Research Associate Alex Brunson, Student Researcher Elise Previdi, NAMES Director Richard Luarkie, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how the U.S. is projected to experience a significant increase in demand for power capacity to meet the needs of its rapidly expanding network of data centers.   These require unprecedented levels of energy and computational power, which can be supported by forming strategic partnerships with Native Nations and placing some of this high-tech infrastructure on Native American lands. October 1, 2025.

THE STATE OF CRITICAL MINERALS REPORT 2025 9/9/2025

THE STATE OF CRITICAL MINERALS REPORT 2025

The Payne Institute for Public Policy has released its third annual State of Critical Minerals Report. These reports, which accompany our annual symposium, seek to provide insights into the complex and deeply interconnected topics surrounding critical minerals.  September 9, 2025.

These Materials Could Cripple America’s Defense Industrial Base 8/28/2025

These Materials Could Cripple America’s Defense Industrial Base

Payne Institute Communications Associate Macdonald Amoah, Director Morgan Bazilian, Critical Minerals Program Manager Clarkson Kamurai, and Fellow Jahara Matisek write about how the Pentagon’s arsenal and defense industrial base is built on materials that China can turn off like a light switch. Growing uncertainty in critical mineral markets and the open weaponization of supply chains by China has prompted a paradigm shift in how the Pentagon addresses these issues.  August 28, 2025.

Shifting Centers of Power: Toward a Post-Westphalian World Order 8/2/2025

Shifting Centers of Power: Toward a Post-Westphalian World Order

Payne Institute Fellow Griffin Thompson and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how as the Russian-Ukraine war stretches into prolonged conflict and the Israeli-Hamas war viciously spirals into cross-border conflicts, a Manichean narrative of good vs. evil is used to explain their politics.  August 2, 2025.

No More Train and Pray: The Consequences of Cutting the Army’s Security Force Assistance Capability 7/22/2025

No More Train and Pray: The Consequences of Cutting the Army’s Security Force Assistance Capability

Payne Institute Fellow Jahara Matisek, Anthony Messenger and Curt Belohlavek write about how in May 2025, the Pentagon announced plans to shutter two of the Army’s six security force assistance brigades (SFABs) and to downsize Security Force Assistance Command into a small shop of about three dozen personnel within US Army Forces Command. This decision ignores clear doctrinal and operational evidence demonstrating SFABs’ strategic value.  July 22, 2025.

Minerals, Magnets, and Military Capability: China’s Rare Earth Weaponization Should Be a Wake-Up Call 7/10/2025

Minerals, Magnets, and Military Capability: China’s Rare Earth Weaponization Should Be a Wake-Up Call

Payne Institute Communications Associate Macdonald Amoah, Director Morgan Bazilian and Fellow Jahara Matisek write about how when China imposed export controls on seven of the seventeen rare earth elements in April 2025, it wasn’t just a trade policy tweak—it was a shot across the bow of the US defense industrial base.  American reliance on foreign minerals and rare earths exposes critical vulnerabilities.  July 10, 2025.

Bridging the Energy Access Divide: A Policy Gap Analysis of 12 African National Energy Compacts Under Mission 300 7/9/2025

Bridging the Energy Access Divide: A Policy Gap Analysis of 12 African National Energy Compacts Under Mission 300

Payne Institute Communications Associate Macdonald Amoah writes about how Africa stands at a pivotal juncture in its energy trajectory, where bold aspirations for universal electrification by 2030 confront entrenched structural and institutional barriers.  In response to this pressing challenge, twelve African governments have aligned themselves with the World Bank’s Mission 300 Energy Compacts, committing to universal access through a suite of reform-oriented and infrastructure-driven strategies.  July 9, 2025.

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For more information about the Energy Security & Resilience Research Area at the Payne Institute for Public Policy, please contact our Deputy Director, Gregory Clough, at gclough@mines.edu.