“When you’re faced with a critical material problem, you can do one of two things: You can find more, or you can use less,” says Tom Lograsso, director of the Critical Materials Institute, a mineral research laboratory within the U.S. Department of Energy.

The sheer quantity of rare earths required for magnet production is staggering when put into raw numbers. For example, a Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine requires 9,200 pounds of permanent magnets made with rare earths. (Permanent magnets are always magnetic, unlike electrical magnets that require an electrical charge to work.) And a proposal by the U.S. Departments of Energy and Interior to generate 86 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2050 would require more than 17,000 tons of neodymium.

“The biggest worry for the magnet industry is supply risk,” says Greer. That makes his breakthrough—a powerful magnet that doesn’t rely on rare earths—a potential game changer.