China is outpacing the U.S. by at least a decade in developing nuclear power, according to a new report by the nonprofit Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Hank Jenkins-Smith, public policy professor at the University of Oklahoma, joins CBS News to examine why the U.S. is falling behind. CBS News 24/7 is the premier anchored streaming news service from CBS News and Stations that is available free to everyone with access to the internet and is the destination for breaking news, live events, original reporting and storytelling, and programs from CBS News and Stations’ top anchors and correspondents working locally, nationally and around the globe. It is available on more than 30 platforms across mobile, desktop and connected TVs for free, as well as CBSNews.com and Paramount+ and live in 91 countries.
The mind-blowing thing we get WRONG about energy
Fossil fuels still supply 80% of our energy. And people point to this number to say it’s impossible to switch to renewables, especially if we want to do it quick enough to stop climate change. But their argument overlooks just how much energy we waste – and how we could do it better.
We’re destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn’t need to be this way. Our new channel Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world — and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What we can do and how the system needs to change. Every Friday we’ll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess.
Why AI Companies Are Looking To The Nuclear Option
Developers of new types of small nuclear reactors and battery chemistries are honing plans to profit by targeting data centers, which need more and more energy to fuel the AI boom.
Why China is winning the EV war
The Biden administration set a climate goal that 50 percent of all new car sales in the US would be electric by 2030. Meanwhile, China reached that milestone this year, in 2024. This video explains how China was able to fast-track EV adoption and develop an EV battery that rivals what any other country has been able to do so far. It’s been a decade of government strategies that have created some of the biggest battery companies in the world, like CATL and BYD. The Biden administration wants to keep Chinese cars and batteries out of the country — but our video explains what kind of position that puts the US in in terms of meeting its own climate goals.
What Really Happened During the 2003 Blackout?
In 2003, one of the most severe power outages in history affected the northeastern US and parts of eastern Canada. This video summarizes the events leading up to and during the blackout.
Lithium: Is the sky really falling?
Since the start of 2023, Benchmark’s Lithium Price assessment has recorded significant falls across its range of lithium prices. But how significant are these price falls? Benchmark’s Chief Data Officer, Caspar Rawles, puts lithium’s recent price falls in context and shows that prices are still higher than the five-year average prior to the rally of 2021-2023.
How bad are electric bikes for the environment?
What is the environmental impact of building an e-bike? When people ride an e-bike, what are they no longer doing? Is an e-bike worse for the planet than a regular bike? In this video I talk industry experts and consult the academic literature on the net impact of electric bikes. The result may surprise you!
Have we been doing Solar wrong all along?
You’re probably used to solar installations that look like this – solar panels facing up towards the sky, which makes sense. You want a wider area to catch more of that sweet solar energy, right? However, bifacial vertical solar panels have started to gain traction recently. Their more flexible-footprint has innovators in Canada, Norway and elsewhere testing them in all kinds of weird scenarios. People who are using these panels are reporting something odd – higher energy yield than expected. The extra yield stumped engineers, but a recent Dutch study may shed some light on the source of this extra energy. Have we been doing solar panels wrong this whole time, or is it all just a miscalculation? And how could this tech impact our lives?
Small Modular Nuclear Reactors. The Verdict.
Small Modular Nuclear Reactors are yet another apparently promising ‘silver bullet’ style solution to the Net Zero challenge. All the reliable, safe, baseload power of large centralised nuclear power stations but without the huge cost overspends and crippling project delays. What’s not to like, eh? Great on paper…but do Small Modular Nuclear Reactors pass the ‘sniff test’ in the real world?
This Toxic, Drying U.S. Lake Could Turn Into the ‘Saudi Arabia of Lithium’ | WSJ
California’s toxic Salton Sea is a treasure trove of lithium – a critical ingredient for powering the country’s clean energy future. The estimated 18 million metric tons of lithium suspended in hot geothermal brine is enough to power more than 375 million EV batteries. So what kinds of new tech are companies using to get to this lithium despite the corrosive conditions? WSJ takes you behind the scenes to understand how companies are building entirely new ways to extract lithium from the area and what it means for the future of domestic lithium production.