Free Republic

Kamala Harris doesn’t just want to build more factories in the US if elected president. She also wants to help secure steady supplies of materials to fuel them. A recent promise that embodies this approach is her proposed establishment of a "national reserve" of critical minerals such as cobalt, lithium, and nickel — the crucial building blocks in everything from electric vehicle batteries to jet engines to medical devices.

China-Africa relations have deepened over the past two decades, characterised by increased economic cooperation, investment and infrastructure development. China is now Africa’s largest trading partner, with partnerships focused on building roads, railways and energy projects. As the ninth Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) kicks off this week in Beijing, a new, green theme is shaping their relationship: the global renewable energy race. We asked Lauren Johnston, a development economist with expertise in China-Africa relations, to provide some insights into this development as it positions both regions as key players in the global shift towards green energy. How is the race...

A lithium-ion battery was behind a Thursday night fire in Auburn. According to the Auburn Fire Department, the call came in just before 10:30p of a fire on Liberty St. While en route, units were told that explosions were observed in the kitchen and the residents could still be inside. Once on scene, crews had the fire under control within ten minutes. No one was injured and three cats were rescued; however, four adults were displaced. It has been determined by fire investigators that a battery charging on the kitchen counter was behind the blaze. This is the second fire...

Charging lithium-ion batteries at high currents just before they leave the factory is 30 times faster and increases battery lifespans by 50%, according to a study at the SLAC-Stanford Battery Center. A lithium-ion battery’s very first charge is more momentous than it sounds. It determines how well and how long the battery will work from then on – in particular, how many cycles of charging and discharging it can handle before deteriorating.In a study published today in Joule, researchers at the SLAC-Stanford Battery Center report that giving batteries this first charge at unusually high currents increased their average lifespan by...

A camera inside a house caught this bad (but fortunate) dog in the act of burning down his owner’s house, and now fire officials are using this video as a cautionary tale against the “dangers of lithium-ion batteries” and rechargeable electronics (click image to watch on X): ...the fire was “destructive” and caused “significant damage” to the home but miraculously, no one was hurt, and the three pets seen in the video all got out of the home through a doggie door; firefighters also took the opportunity to remind people of this: Lithium-ion batteries can explode and spark fires when...

The 18650-format potassium-ion battery was launched at the 14th annual Beyond Lithium Conference at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. - Group1 ============================================================================================ The vast majority of our portable electronic gadgets, and the new wave of electric transportation, are powered by lithium batteries. Texas-based startup Group1 has developed a more sustainable alternative, and has now launched the world's first 18650 potassium-ion battery. Group1 was co-founded in 2021 by battery tech veterans, including Leigang Xue who currently serves as Chief Product Officer but previously worked in the lab of 2019 Nobel Laureate and battery pioneer Dr. John Goodenough at University...

A team of researchers from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) has announced the creation of a so-called super battery made from rocks, a technology that may one day replace Lithium Ion batteries used in electric vehicle production. The team claims their discovery would lead to cleaner, safer, and longer-lasting batteries that don’t rely on rare metals or end up as toxic waste. According to the DTU team behind the battery’s creation, the key to their entry into energy storage lies in the simplicity of the materials involved. More specifically, their super battery is based on potassium and sodium silicates,...

There just are no words to describe what happens when these lithium-ion battery thingees of damn near any size get froggy and go fiery. Yeah, it's spectacular but I sure as hell don't want to be anywhere near them. The latest horrible mishap was this morning in Korea, at a Li-ion battery factory in an industrial center southwest of Seoul. Multiple powerful explosions set a lithium battery factory on fire in South Korea on Monday, killing 22 workers, most of them Chinese nationals, as it burned out of control for nearly six hours, fire officials said.The blaze ripped through a...

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland acknowledged Tuesday that the Biden administration’s climate agenda, which is reliant on global critical mineral supply chains, is strengthening China. During a House Appropriations Committee hearing on her agency’s proposed 2024 budget, Haaland was repeatedly grilled about the administration’s environmental policies blocking further domestic production of critical minerals and opening the door to further reliance on Chinese-sourced minerals. In one exchange with Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., Haaland affirmed that green energy sources “deepen” reliance on Chinese imports. “I’m telling you right now that 63% of rare earth mining [occurs in China],” Reschenthaler stated. “By deductive reasoning,...

Idaho farmers are indeed facing significant challenges related to water access. The Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) issued a curtailment order for eastern Idaho irrigators who were found to be noncompliant with a state-approved mitigation plan. This order was scheduled to go into effect recently. The curtailment order impacts about 6,400 junior groundwater rights holders who pump water from the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer. This aquifer supplies water to the Twin Falls Canal Co, which has senior water rights. The projected shortfall of water to the Twin Falls Canal Co is approximately 74,100-acre-feet. To put this in perspective, an...

CHANCAY, Peru—In this serene town on South America’s Pacific coast, China is building a megaport that could challenge U.S. influence in a resource-rich region that Washington has long considered its backyard.... ...The U.S. worries that China’s control over what could become South America’s first true global commercial hub will allow Beijing to further strengthen its grip over the region’s resources, deepen its influence among America’s closest neighbors and eventually plant its military nearby.... Peru’s Foreign Minister Javier González-Olaechea said...“The United States is present almost everywhere in the world with a lot of initiatives, but not so much in Latin America,”...

Government scientists have shown that they can filter the precious metal from the state's shale gas wastewater: pulling tons of lithium per day, with little left behind. They concluded that Pennsylvania alone could produce nearly half of the total US demand for lithium — starting in the first year — supplying this key compound that's needed to power everything from smartphones to electric vehicles to solar panels. A project on this scale could make Pennsylvania a rust-belt Saudi Arabia, ending US dependence on lithium from China, which now controls 90 percent of the market. People compare it to the Gold...

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has found that pedestrians are twice as likely to be hit by an electric or hybrid car than by a gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicle. The scientists have hypothesized that the relatively quiet operations of an electric vehicle as well as high pedestrian density in noisy urban areas could be major reasons. The study uncovered a pedestrian casualty rate of 5.16 per 100 million miles driven for electric and hybrid vehicles, more than double the 2.4 per 100 million miles recorded for traditional gasoline-powered cars.

It's not a laptop in first class or a cheap Chinese scooter smoking ominously in the plane's cargo hold. Nor is it a massive commercial ship packed to the gills with cars being transported across an ocean that has had one of the EVs parked onboard light off, and now the whole vessel is hopelessly ablaze. It's not another fiery EV in a driveway or garage or the solar panels on a rooftop, even though I have covered all of those. Comments regular Global Traveler turned me on to an ongoing drama in, of all places, San Diego County that...

A groundbreaking new pulsed plasma propulsion system could soon enable faster and safer crewed missions to planets like Mars, according to a leading developer of novel technologies aimed at advancing the next stages of human space exploration. Scottsdale, Arizona-based space technology developer Howe Industries recently announced that its Pulsed Plasma Rocket (PPR) could represent a game-changer in advanced propulsion for space travel, allowing crewed missions to significantly reduce the travel time required to reach Mars. According to current timelines, NASA aims to send the first crewed missions to Mars within the next two decades using habitat-like spacecraft paired with hybrid...

A new type of hybrid sodium-ion battery that offers both high capacity and rapid-charging capabilities could power mobile devices, electric vehicles and space tech. Researchers have developed a new coin-type sodium-based battery that can charge rapidly “in seconds” and could potentially power everything from smartphones to electric vehicles (EVs) in the future. By combining anode materials used in conventional batteries with cathodes from supercapacitors — batteries that can store and deliver energy at very high rates –– the scientists created a new type of sodium-ion battery that offers both high capacity and rapid-charging capabilities. They were looking for a way...

Two years ago, sodium-ion battery pioneer Natron Energy was busy preparing its specially formulated sodium batteries for mass production. The company slipped a little past its 2023 kickoff plans, but it didn't fall too far behind as far as mass battery production goes. It officially commenced production of its rapid-charging, long-life lithium-free sodium batteries this week, bringing to market an intriguing new alternative in the energy storage game. Not only is sodium somewhere between 500 to 1,000 times more abundant than lithium on the planet we call Earth, sourcing it doesn't necessitate the same type of earth-scarring extraction. Even moving...

In my self-designated role critiquing various schemes for total transformation of the world energy system, I get to review large amounts of poor, shoddy, and incompetent work. When people get into advocating for this “energy transition,” the stars regularly align to bring forth the most extreme levels of ineptitude. Start with the fact that the “smartest” people are filled with arrogance and hubris, but are not actually very smart. Add that many innumerate Politics and English majors have flooded into a field that cries out for engineering calculations. Add too that groupthink and orthodoxy enforcement prevent anyone from pointing out...

I urgently prompted my Dr. for more than 1 year for prevention and treatment protocols for possibly imminent, high lethality viruses. She's a good Dr. but her training gets in the way of giving a straight answer. The following very simple elements use 1) an inexpensive Dr. Z. protocol, 2) saline and very dilute hydrogen peroxide administered via home nebulizer, and 3) low-dose lithium from Dr. Michael Nehls. The protocol of the late Dr. Zev Zelenko, with which he suffered only 1 demise among 7,000 patients, uses Vitamin D, zinc, quercetin to substitute for hydroxychloroquine (generally unavailable because prescription only)...

Space X CEO Elon Musk and Argentinian President Javier Milei have met in Texas and spoke about working together to promote free markets and potential lithium projects. President Javier Milei’s chief spokesperson said that during their visit to Tesla’s Austin headquarters, the two talked about a range of issues, including the need to boost declining birth rates globally and the pursuit of technological advancement while upholding “liberty.” Musk has previously expressed his admiration for Milei’s unabashed support of private enterprise as well as his distaste for what he considers to be socialist excesses.