Abstract: During the next decades, the world will steadily increase its energy consumption while struggling to decrease the participation of non renewable sources. The driving force for such trend is the growing concern with the climatic changes brought about by the greenhouse effect. As a result, considerably funding has been and will increasingly be invested by industrialized countries in alternatives sources that reduce or mitigate the environmental impact. Among the current options for energy production, many are dependent of developments in materials related issues, representing an opportunity for researchers and industries in this field. The presentation will highlight some examples of potential technologies that have been hindered by materials obstacles, including those that are based on powder technology.