Tool
What would it take?
Pick a technology and a quantity. The calculator multiplies out the material bill and puts each total next to the entire world’s annual production of that material — which is usually the number that changes how the answer feels.
10,000,000 × Direct-Drive Offshore Wind Turbine — A turbine with no gearbox, using a very large permanent-magnet generator instead.
Quantities are per MW of capacity indicative range tonnes of contained material
Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.
| Material | Per unit | Total, low | Total, high | World annual production | Share of a year’s supply |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron & Steel Dominates the mass by far. | 100,000–180,000 kg | 1.00 billion t | 1.80 billion t | 360.00 million tworld iron slag production was estimated to be between 330 million and 390 million tons,, 2025 | 500.0% |
| Copper Offshore is far higher than onshore. | 3,000–8,000 kg | 30.00 million t | 80.00 million t | 23.00 million tMine production, 2025 | 347.8% |
| Neodymium Direct-drive designs only. | 100.0–200.0 kg | 1.00 million t | 2.00 million t | not published | — |
| Dysprosium | 5.00–20.00 kg | 50,000 t | 200,000 t | not published | — |
| Boron | 4.00–8.00 kg | 40,000 t | 80,000 t | not published | — |
Intensity ranges are indicative, compiled from published technology studies and chemistry — not a manufacturer specification. World production is USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, 2025 (estimated), converted to tonnes of the same basis where the source reports thousands of tonnes or kilograms · source ↗. This is an educational order-of-magnitude tool. It is not a procurement estimate and must not be used as one.