Free Republic

This year is shaping up to be the hottest on record. And while carbon dioxide dominates the climate conversation, another powerful pollutant, methane, requires our urgent attention. In fact, reducing methane emissions is the single most efficient way to limit warming in our lifetimes. This means that as we curb methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, we can not forget to swiftly tackle methane emissions from landfills. At the end of the month, when world leaders meet at the COP28 climate conference, the United States can set an example by putting stronger landfill controls on the agenda to...

California .. the bill is coming due. ... no comprehensive plan to dispose of them. Now, panels purchased under those programs are nearing the end of their typical 25-to-30-year life cycle. Many are already winding up in .. contaminate groundwater with toxic heavy metals such as lead, selenium and cadmium. Sam Vanderhoof, a solar industry expert and chief executive of Recycle PV Solar, says that only 1 in 10 panels are actually recycled ... The looming challenge over how to handle truckloads of waste... “The industry is supposed to be green,” Vanderhoof said. “But in reality, it’s all about the...

Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere — in phones, laptops, tablets, cameras and increasingly cars. Demand for lithium-ion batteries has risen sharply in the past five years and is expected to grow from a $44.2 billion market in 2020 to a $94.4 billion market by 2025, mostly due to the boom in electric cars. And a shortage of lithium-ion batteries is looming in the U.S.Former Tesla CTO and Elon Musk's right-hand man, JB Straubel, started Redwood Materials in 2017 to help address the need for more raw materials and to solve the problem of e-waste. The company recycles end-of-life batteries and then...

Solar, wind, batteries, nuclear, tidal power, among others, provide carbon-free electricity. But their generation is usually immediately absorbed into the power grid for use or stored in lithium-ion batteries. Large-scale energy hoarding is expensive, and quite frankly, with base metal prices skyrocketing, maybe unattainable unless the Biden administration allocates billions of dollars to upgrade the grid. Toronto-based Hydrostor has found a solution to storing power on the grid that doesn’t involve batteries but instead stores energy in the form of compressed air in underground chambers. California is becoming the new site for two new compressed-air energy storage plants that “will...

Company Developing up to 10GWh of energy storage in state using its patented A-CAES technology. Advanced-Compressed Air Energy Storage (A-CAES) is a long-duration energy storage system that combines components from existing energy systems to create an advanced, emissions-free storage system that is low-impact, cost-effective, and can be located where the grid needs it. This innovative use of proven technologies provides a scalable, reliable and bankable energy storage solution for utilities and regulators.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has up to $5 million invested in company Biden promoted Republican senators are working to make the electric battery company President Joe Biden toured to promote his $1.9 trillion infrastructure plan this administration's Solyndra. Biden's promotion of electric battery and bus manufacturer Proterra has struck a nerve on Capitol Hill after the Washington Free Beacon reported that Biden's energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, still has up to $5 million invested in the company. The administration's $1.9 trillion infrastructure plan includes a $174 billion investment in electric vehicles, as well as plans to replace diesel-powered buses with electric-powered...

Shares of Contemporary Amperex Technology were up as much as 9% in Shenzhen overnight on news that it could be the company involved in supplying batteries for Apple's electric vehicle project.The jump in shares marks the best day for the company's stock in four months, Bloomberg reported Monday morning.The report, which appears to be unconfirmed for the time being, was published in Xuangubao.cn, a Chinese online stock news platform. That platform did not report a source for the information.A battery is "still being tested" for the project, according to Bloomberg, and the company did not respond for comment when asked...

Moreover, it is safer in terms of potential fire hazards and has a lower environmental impact. It is difficult to imagine our daily life without lithium-ion batteries. They dominate the small format battery market for portable electronic devices, and are also commonly used in electric vehicles. At the same time, lithium-ion batteries have a number of serious issues, including: a potential fire hazard and performance loss at cold temperatures; as well as a considerable environmental impact of spent battery disposal. According to the leader of the team of researchers, Professor in the Department of Electrochemistry at St Petersburg University Oleg...

When the Hummer EV SUT (sport utility truck) and its newly-unveiled SUV variant hit dealer show floors in the fall of 2021 and 2023, respectively, they’ll be among the first models in GM’s new electrified lineup to be built atop the company’s Ultium battery system. General Motors is no stranger to the electric vehicle market. GM began its electrified venture in 1996 with the EV1, one of the very first viable battery-powered sedan models produced by a major automaker which continued its run until being discontinued in 2003. It was superseded by the BEV2 platform of which the 2016 Chevy...

PERTH, Australia, March 31, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Strategic Elements Ltd (ASX:SOR) is pleased to announce that it has demonstrated the important potential for the self-charging Battery Ink cells to be 'scaled' down in size. Through scaling more batteries can be assembled in the same space leading to increased density and power output. The size of the Battery Ink cells were reduced from 1cm2 in previous work to 25mm2 achieving a four-times reduction in area. The team fabricated a prototype battery pack with twenty scaled-down connected Battery Ink cells which successfully produced a 14 volt output solely by harvesting moisture from...

SEOUL — South Korea’s SK Innovation Co Ltd said on Tuesday it is considering all options including pulling its battery business out of the United States if President Joe Biden does not overturn a trade panel’s decision against it by April 11. “The company has been consulting with experts to discuss ways to withdraw our battery business from the United States,” a spokeswoman at SK Innovation said. “We are reviewing options to move our U.S. battery production to Europe or China, which would cost us tens of billions of won,” she added. SK Innovation and LG Chem’s wholly owned battery...

Scientists have made a massless structural battery 10 times better than before. The battery cell performs well in structural and energy tests, with planned further improvements. Structural batteries reduce weight and could revolutionize electric cars and planes. ________________________________________________________ In groundbreaking new research, scientists have made a structural battery 10 times better than in any previous experiment. What’s a structural battery, and why is it such a big deal? The term refers to an energy storage device that can also bear weight as part of a structure—like if the studs in your home were all batteries, or if an electric fence...

BEIJING - Growing demand for electric car batteries will cause prices of the main materials to surge, Goldman Sachs analysts said in a March 18 note. That in turn will drive prices of batteries higher by about 18%, affecting the total profit of electric car makers since the battery accounts for about 20% to 40% of the vehicle cost, the Goldman analysts said. While the report didn’t give specific price targets for the commodities, the analysts’ model predicted a return to historical peak prices would more than double the cost of lithium for electric battery makers. That of cobalt would...

The Lavo home hydrogen battery is not a battery, it's an electrolysis system, hydrogen storage array and fuel cell power system rolled into one attractive cabinetLavo VIEW 3 IMAGES To get off the grid with home solar, you need to be able to generate energy when the Sun's out, and store it for when it's not. Normally, people do this with lithium battery systems – Tesla's Powerwall 2 is an example. But Australian company Lavo has built a rather spunky (if chunky) cabinet that can sit on the side of your house and store your excess energy as hydrogen. The...

Battery Wars: is Japan about to beat China in race for the energy game changer of the decade? Japan once supplied the world with the most advanced Li-Ion batteries. China and Korea now dominate the market, and Japan wants it back The search for the holy grail of batteries may be over. After a multi-year industry-wide effort, Japan solves the elusive solid-state technology

Tesla Inc. unveiled battery innovations and increased efficiencies that appeared to underwhelm investors late Tuesday at its much anticipated “Battery Day.” Tesla stock’s TSLA, -8.89%, which had gained more than 4% after an upbeat post-shareholder-meeting presentation, turned south as soon as Chief Executive Elon Musk said that some of the innovations showcased at the event were “close to working” and some three years away from fruition. Shares fell as much as 7.6% in Tuesday’s after-hours session, but have pared some gains to trade down 6.0% in Wednesday’s premarket session. “It does work but not [yet] with a high yield,” Musk...

Corporate and private investors have poured at least $2.3 billion into more than 100 aerial vehicle startups, including drones and electric air taxis. GM is weighing all options - whether to build, supply or partner - as it decides whether to join such automakers as Hyundai Motor Co, Toyota etc. General Motors, the US carmaker is exploring possibilities in the aerial taxi market, including whether to build the vehicles known colloquially as "flying cars," as part of a push to look for growth in related transportation markets, two people familiar with the matter said. Chief Executive Mary Barra on Monday...

Wind energy companies will have the option of using decommissioned wind turbine blades as backfill material when reclaiming surface coal mine sites soon, thanks to a new bill signed into law earlier this year. But first, the state needs to set the rules. ... The blades.. are made of fiberglass. Fiberglass is a tricky material that can’t be recycled or easily repurposed. And as utility companies look to replace aging wind turbines, the machines’ blades are being buried in stacks at a handful of landfills around the country, ... old mine sites to suddenly become a landfills, which could affect...

The Environmental Protection Agency will propose easing rules on disposal of coal ash, the residue from burning coal, to make it less likely the federal government would shutter a coal-fired utility plant, in an announcement set for Monday. The move is part of what has been a larger deregulation push by the Trump administration to roll back strict Obama-era regulations that the industry viewed as the previous administration’s “war on coal” that pushed to shut down many coal-fired power plants. “The EPA is no longer picking winners and losers in electric generation,” Peter Wright, assistant administrator for EPA Office of...

I don’t know who said it, but whoever came up with the idea that “whatever liberals don’t want to ban, they want to make mandatory,” is absolutely accurate. You name it, they’ve got a plan to force everyone to do it or to rid the world of it. Nothing is too small to escape their crosshairs, not even straws. Straws are a favorite target, the banning of which is all the rage in Democrat-controlled cities across the country. They pat themselves on the back so hard over this Jihad against straws that you’d think they were giving themselves the Heimlich...