Utility-scale energy storage is a hot topic right now as grid operators look for ways to economically adopt intermittent renewable sources like wind and solar into our global electrical systems. Now a team at MIT has combined and improved several existing technologies into a flexible modular solution that could be as much as 30x cheaper than existing lithium-ion technology.
How The Troubled Salton Sea Could Become The World’s Largest Lithium Supplier
In and around the shrinking, toxic Salton Sea, there’s enough lithium to meet the United States’ entire projected demand and fuel the electric vehicle revolution. Three companies are working to demonstrate new lithium extraction technologies in the area, and if their tech works at scale, it could produce the greenest lithium that the world has ever seen.
Elon Musk talks Twitter, Tesla and how his brain works — live at TED2022
In this unedited conversation with head of TED Chris Anderson, Elon Musk — the head of Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink and The Boring Company — digs into the recent news around his bid to purchase Twitter and gets honest about the biggest regret of his career, how his brain works, the future he envisions for the world and a lot more. (Recorded at TED2022 on April 14, 2022)
This live interview includes an excerpt from another exclusive, extended conversation recorded a few days earlier at Tesla’s Texas Gigafactory.
These Mini Nuclear Reactors Can be Built Anywhere
Will we see small nuclear reactors cropping up around the world? Well, it has already started. Small modular reactors make nuclear power simpler. They are less expensive and easier to make operational, compared to traditional reactors and are safer.
Autonomous Trucking – Where Exactly Are We? (And Other Questions) | Answers With Joe
With the current shortage of truckers, it makes you wonder what the state of autonomous trucking is right now. At least, it prompted one of my Patreon supporters to ask the question, and many others in today’s lightning round video.
How much does an electric car actually cost?
Electric vehicles have long been seen as crucial to moving the U.S. economy away from fossil fuels: Many Americans are too car-addicted to abandon their personal vehicles, and the country is too tethered to its highways and suburbs to make a quick switch to a full-scale European-style public transportation system. (Sorry, mass-transit advocates.) A fleet of EVs, running on clean electricity, could help slash the 28 percent of U.S. emissions that come from transportation. But often, possible EV buyers are understandably scared off by the higher sticker price. But what about over the lifetime of a vehicle? Shannon Osaka digs into this tricky question.
If you’re curious about our methodology, we used a 2020 report from Consumer Reports, showing the difference in lifetime fueling costs of Crossovers/SUVs ($11,200) and maintenance ($4,600) for all models.
The World’s Largest Battery Isn’t What You Think
Because of the intermittency of renewable energy like wind and solar power, storing large amounts of electricity is a necessity for the decarbonization of our energy system. However, we still don’t have enough batteries to compensate for renewable energy slumps across the planet. When thinking about the biggest utility-scale energy storage installations, a huge cylindrical lithium ion battery powered light bulb may go off in your head. But what if I told you the world’s largest battery taps into water rather than lithium? Can an old technology, even one still learning new tricks, be the answer? Let’s see if we can come to a decision on this.
Here’s how we survive the 21st Century. Maybe!
How do we survive the 21st Century? Well, the latest IPCC report suggests we’ll do it by making unprecedented and totally radical changes in the next eight years. And even then we’ll need to suck billions of tons of CO2 back out of our atmosphere for decades. They reckon it can be done. But are they right?
Electricity 101
Electricity is the physical flow of electrons, referred to as an electrical current.
What is voltage? – Electricity Explained (3)
Briefly; Voltage is how we describe the strength of the current. The electric potential of a power source (such as a battery).