Lifeboat Foundation

Plastic and molten salt batteries may be the key to grid-scale energy storage.

Electricity is a marvelous thing. It can power every manner of machine and digital device, but it is ephemeral. It has to be used as soon as it is created or it is lost forever. The trick to making it serve the needs of humanity is to store it, and to do that, you need a battery.

There are hundreds of ways to make a battery — the Romans did it with copper and iron in a lemon juice bath. But not all of those storage techniques are practical in the real world. Some are too heavy, others too bulky. Many are too costly or use materials that are too scare. Nickel has long been a major component of today’s lithium-ion batteries, but upheavals in some countries masterminded by criminal leaders have caused it to triple in price recently.

Continue reading “Grid-Scale Storage Solutions — Plastic & Freeze/Thaw Battery Edition” »

Tesla has unveiled its latest giant Megapack project consisting of 360 MWh of energy storage capacity used in concert with a solar farm to help power 60,000 homes.

Arevon is becoming one of Tesla’s biggest partners in the deployment of energy storage capacity.

Last year, Tesla and Arevon signed a deal for the former to supply a record amount of 2 GW/6 GWh of Megapack batteries to the latter for several new energy storage projects.

Elon Musk referred to Mark Zuckerberg as ‘Zuckerberg the 14th’ – an apparent allusion to the famed Louis XIV nicknamed the Sun King – and accused him of exerting too much influence over platforms controlled by him. Twitter’s new owner insists that his bid to purchase the microblogging service isn’t about making money, but rather about broadening Twitter’s appeal and safeguarding free expression. A more accessible social media platform was one of Musk’s goals, he said.

“When Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp are all owned by Mark Zuckerberg, the 14th generation of Zuckerbergs will still be in charge. Actually, this is what I mean. On Twitter, you won’t see that ” Zuckerberg was ridiculed by Musk. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that he prefers to maintain the largest number of Twitter stockholders in the company, rather than monopolizing it. He presently has a 9.1 percent stake in Twitter.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, on the other hand, holds a 12.8 percent stake in Meta, the parent company of social media platforms. This is not the first time that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk have taken shots at one other. When in doubt, leave the speech as is. Let the tweet live if it’s in a grey area When discussing censoring specific subjects and tweets, Musk stated this. In my opinion, we should be extremely cautious about deleting anything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_6cLgAXhA0

This fish-friendly hydro turbine turns streams, rivers into a zero-emissions power plant.

Credit: Natel Energy.
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Continue reading “Fish-Friendly Hydro Turbine Turns River Into Power Plants” »

The future of solar has just got brighter with this ‘ultra-thin’ device for converting stored energy into electricity.

“Our batteries are designed to suit the needs of stationary power applications where safety, lifetime, levelized costs, and environmental footprints are key decision drivers,” the company said in a statement. “PolyJoule’s conductive polymer cells span the performance curve between traditional lead-acid batteries and modern lithium-ion cells, while enhancing service life and reducing balance of plant costs, due to their no-HVAC thermal management design.”

According to the manufacturer, the battery cells were tested to perform for 12,000 cycles at 100% depth of discharge. The device is based on a standard, two-electrode electrochemical cell containing the conductive polymers, a carbon-graphene hybrid, and a non-flammable liquid electrolyte. Alternating anodes and cathodes are interwoven and then connected in parallel to form a cell.

A new type of battery made from electrically conductive polymers—basically plastic—could help make energy storage on the grid cheaper and more durable, enabling a greater use of renewable power.

The batteries, made by Boston-based startup PolyJoule, could offer a less expensive and longer-lasting alternative to lithium-ion batteries for storing electricity from intermittent sources like wind and solar.

A simple colour change could indicate the presence of potentially hazardous hydrogen gas thanks to a new sensor developed by researchers in Germany. The micron-scale device, which uses so-called “supraparticles” that turn from purple to pink in the presence of hydrogen, could help prevent explosions by making it easier to detect and localize leaks at fuel stations, generators and pipelines.

“GM and our suppliers are building an EV ecosystem that is focused on sourcing critical raw materials in a secure sustainable manner. Importantly, given the critical role of EVs in reducing the carbon footprint of the transportation sector, this agreement is aligned with our approach to responsible sourcing and supply chain management.”

Jeff Morrison, GM vice president, Global Purchasing and Supply Chain

GM and Glencore did not disclose the duration of the sourcing agreement or its value. Cobalt is a rare metal that makes up only 0.001% of the earth’s crust. Known for its heat-resistant properties, it is added to lithium-ion battery cathodes to improve energy density and battery longevity.