The Closest Material to Fictional Wakandan Vibranium

Wakanda and Vibranium are iconic elements of the Marvel Comics universe, and they offer a number of valuable lessons and insights that relate to real world energy infrastructure - both positive and inspirational lessons, as well as negative and cautionary ones.

Let’s look at the positive takeaways first, because that is more fun.

One key lesson from Wakanda and Vibranium is the importance of innovation and the pursuit of new and advanced technologies. Wakanda is a fictional nation that has leveraged its unique resources and expertise to catapult centuries ahead of the rest of the world in science and technology, and Vibranium is a material that has allowed for the creation of a national energy infrastructure that is basically perfect. Wakanda is an energy Utopia and its energy infrastructure empowers everything else. The Marvel writers are truly brilliant in emphasizing that materials science and energy infrastructure are the keys to everything else in civilization.

While Vibranium doesn’t exist in the real world, there are some materials which do have some similarities, albeit in modest doses, in absorbing energy.

Phase Change Materials (PCMs) are substances that can absorb, store, and release large amounts of thermal energy through a process called phase change, in which the material changes from a solid to a liquid or vice versa. While PCMs are not yet widely used in energy infrastructure, they have been the subject of increasing interest and research in recent years.

PCMs have the potential to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy costs in a variety of applications, including heating and cooling systems, thermal energy storage, and even clothing and textiles.

Graphene is a material composed of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice pattern, and has been shown to absorb and store energy from mechanical vibrations and deformations, making it a potential candidate for use in energy harvesting and storage systems.

Like PCMs, graphene is not widely used today. However, there have been a number of promising developments in the use of graphene in energy infrastructure, including its use as a component in batteries, solar cells, and other energy storage and conversion technologies.

Vibranium also resembles uranium. In terms of energy density, uranium is often considered one of the most energy-dense materials in the real world. Uranium stores a vast amount of energy which we can release in a controlled way. The difficulty is that releasing uranium’s energy in an uncontrolled way can be catastrophic. Hence, the political resistance to nuclear power and the permitting difficulty associated with any nuclear project. It is noteworthy, at no point in the Wakanda history is there any industrial catastrophe associated with an uncontrolled release of Vibranium’s energy.

Wakanda represents a Utopian and ongoing revolution in energy and everything associated with energy. But sometimes, revolutionary innovations do happen in the real world. Fracking enabled the United States to become energy independent, reducing its reliance on foreign sources of oil and gas and increasing its energy security. This abundance of domestic energy has also contributed to a reduction in energy prices and has provided a boost to the US economy.

In addition to its impact on fossil fuel production, the development of fracking and other drilling technologies has also led to innovations in geothermal energy production. The same drilling techniques used in fracking can be adapted for use in geothermal energy production, allowing for the extraction of heat from below the earth’s surface and its conversion into electricity. This has the potential to provide a reliable and sustainable source of energy for many regions around the world.

So all of that is sort of like Wakanda! But what’s the downside of thinking like a Wakandan?

Well, real-world implementation of advanced energy technologies and infrastructure is much more difficult and complex than in fiction, and it requires careful consideration of interrelated energy infrastructure systems, as well as the environmental impacts of energy production and consumption, not to mention the costs.

Wind and solar development today sometimes give off the impression of a “let’s pretend” mentality, as if we lived in a world like Wakanda, where energy infrastructure is abundant and advanced technologies are commonplace and every innovation is a step forward.

While wind and solar power have the potential to be powerful tools in supplementing energy supply to a world which needs more energy, it is important to approach these technologies with a critical and realistic eye, recognizing the limitations and challenges of implementing them on a large scale. This includes considerations of the environmental impacts of wind and solar production (especially the mining of rare metals), as well as the limitations of energy storage and transmission infrastructure. By acknowledging these challenges and working to address them, we can ensure that the development of wind and solar power is grounded in real-world considerations and has the potential to make a meaningful impact on global energy markets and the environment.

The real world is always more difficult.

In the Marvel Comics universe, the exact process for mining Vibranium in Wakanda is not fully described. The financing of energy infrastructure in Wakanda is not a major focus in the Marvel Comics universe, nor is insurance. Governmental corruption and infrastructure project corruption are not major themes in Wakanda. There is no Odebrecht in Wakanda and permitting of energy infrastructure is not a major hassle in Wakanda.

Such is the difference between fiction and the real world.