Natural Resources
Figure 7 shows the four components of interest for natural resources.
Food and energy. Although not as important as they once were, energy and food remain important, and the significance of these resources is as much technical as it is political: because energy and food remain inputs necessary for the functioning of about everything else in a modern economy, countries in general are extremely sensitive to the potential for disruption and cut-off in supply. Consequently, fossil fuel resources like oil, coal, and natural gas will continue to remain important, as will non-natural fuel resources such as nuclear power. Critical minerals. Peculiar to the postindustrial age, however, will be non-fuel resources like jewel bearings used in sophisticated machine tools and beryllium used with copper in electrical and computer components. Light, but strong and flexible metals like titanium, vanadium, chromium, cobalt, aluminum, and columbium, the vital components of complex machines, especially in the aerospace industry, will also remain significant.