The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
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Recent studies pay off with major improvements in charging times and conductivity in solid-state lithium-sulfur battery technology. A flurry of scientific advances from Australia to California in recent months could soon propel lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries into direct competition with their lithium-ion cousins. Researchers at the University of Adelaide, Tianjin University in China, and the Australian Synchrotron recently reported results of a study that suggests the next...
Largest industrial decarbonization investment ever in US history; will see $6 billion across 33 projects throughout the nation. Stoking the non-emissive fires of industry once again, the U.S. Department of Energy has leveraged another significant share of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to inject upwards of $6 billion into 33 projects across more than 20 states to decarbonize energy-intensive industries, reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions, and invigorate job...
Startup Clairity raises $6.75 million to scale carbon removal system, bringing active carbon capture closer to cheaper, universally adoptable solutions California-based climate tech startup Clairity Technology announced that it has raised $6.75 million to scale its energy-efficient and cost-effective direct air capture (DAC) solution for removing dilute CO2. DAC technology is a key carbon removal option in the transition to a net-zero energy system that works by extracting...
Despite investing billions of dollars, US continues to rely heavily on China and others for its supply of critical minerals. The 2024 edition of U.S. Geological Survey's annual Mineral Commodity Summaries shows the United States has made little headway in breaking its reliance on China and other overseas nations for the minerals and metals critical to the nation's clean energy ambitions, economic well-being, and defense. "Our mineral import dependence continues to be a gaping...
Reshoring mineral supply chains lost to globalization is a key part of DOD National Defense Industrial Strategy The urgency to onshore critical mineral supply chains in the United States has begun to shift away from a need to secure reliable sources of the minerals and metals needed to support the nation's economy and clean energy ambitions toward the need for these same mined commodities to defend American ideals and interests at home and abroad. "Establishing a fully...
The ages of human history have been defined from stone to iron, from hunting to husbandry, and from industry to information. The latest change has come not through any one revolutionary commodity or tool but in an overall shift from resource consumption to one of stewardship. "The argument could be made that, with the clean energy transition, we're exchanging a fossil fuel-based energy system with a metals-based energy system," said Scott Odell, MIT Environmental Solutions...
A mining company can never fully integrate a culture of sustainability motivated by compliance alone –satisfying laws, norms, and investors rather than taking risks and creating lasting, generational value. This message, delivered by Professor David Wheeler during the 2018 Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada Convention, continues to resonate with an industry that is now being championed as a key enabler of a clean energy future. To be seen in a better light, the m...
As the White House continues to dole out hundreds of billions of dollars to position America as the global leader in clean energy and digital technologies, Beijing initiates a strategy to put America in check with the global economy equivalent of pawns. These pawns in the technology chess match between the U.S. and China are gallium and germanium, a pair of semiconductor metals used to make the computer chips essential to every facet of modern life. Before all the major news o...
After 50 years of scrubbing the emissions from fossil-fueled transportation and industry, platinum group metals are finding new roles as catalysts for the transition to a low-carbon energy future. "Platinum group metals (PGM) are critical for today's energy sector industrial base and will play a key role in tomorrow's decarbonized economy," U.S. Department of Energy inked in an informational brochure on these transitional metals, also known as platinum group elements. PGMs...
The International Energy Agency's Inaugural Critical Minerals Market Review provides insights into the progress made, challenges ahead. The International Energy Agency is cautiously optimistic about the progress made so far along the expanding supply chains for the minerals critical to electric vehicles and renewable energy. Like the global energy markets it represents, the IEA is transitioning its analysis and policy advocacy toward the clean energy future, and now provides...
A group of bipartisan senators and a conservation organization are urging the White House to take definitive actions to bolster domestic production of the minerals critical to clean energy and national security. In a March 11 letter to President Biden, Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska); Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), and Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) pointed out that the "lack of home-grown production...
Like flying cars and jet packs, space travel, colonization and resource mining are all lagging behind the imaginations of Hollywood, scientists, and billionaire CEOs. This is partly because NASA and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (and any other nation's government-supported agencies) have a problem – the project ambitions of the U.S. Congress-funded space agency is hedged by the variable length of a presidential term and the resulting appointments. Therefore, it is up to the p...
Adding to the rapidly expanding network of companies building a robust lithium battery materials supply in Ontario, Canada-based Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. and India-based Essar Group Company have forged a partnership to develop a mine and processing plant that will produce lithium that will be needed by electric vehicle and battery manufacturers in Ontario and beyond. Under the agreement, the two companies would co-own Avalon Lithium Inc., a private Avalon subsidiary that...
The White House has allotted $500 million for a program that aims to transform old and current mine sites into renewable energy hubs. Being administered by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Clean Energy Demonstrations on Current and Former Mine Land Program aims to validate innovative approaches to converting mine lands to clean energy projects, with a goal of replication across the nation. DOE says the repurposing of mine land for energy projects that lower carbon dioxide...
USGS to carry out Earth MRI scan of lithium-rich areas of western states. Building upon its successful scans of the United States for potential sources of minerals critical to everything from smartphones and kitchen gadgets to the electric vehicles and wind turbines powering the renewable energy future, the U.S. Geological Survey announced it is investing $1.45 million for Earth Mapping Resources Initiative programs in Nevada and Oregon. Under the cleverly named Earth MRI...
Rare earth elements suffer from a crisis of identity. Often referred to and treated as one commodity, REEs are actually a group of 15 elements – each with its own individual and seemingly magical qualities. "There are literally hundreds of uses for rare earths – they are unique materials, almost alchemistical magic," said Michael Silver, CEO of American Elements, a Los Angeles-based distributor of rare earths and thousands of other advanced materials. The almost mystical pro...
Broadening the potential applications of its environmentally sustainable metal leaching formula, EnviroMetal Technologies Inc. reports that it has successfully extracted 221 ounces of gold from roughly 150 kilograms (330 pounds) of dust collected in baghouse filters from a Canadian gold producer. The company says this milestone demonstrates the effectiveness of its proprietary non-cyanide formula in recovering exceptionally high-grade gold from otherwise difficult to process...
Responsible for several important milestones in the study of quantum mechanics, or more specifically quantum dots, the Los Alamos National Laboratory has once more proven to be at the forefront of this field by revealing a plethora of breakthroughs and discoveries. The findings, published in the journal "Science," covers the nearly three decades of research into quantum dots and assesses the technological progress for these nanometer-sized specks of semiconductive matter,...
Telecom giant Ericsson announced July 6 that it was selected by ArcelorMittal to provide 5G connectivity at its recently inaugurated Digital Lab in Dunkirk, France, the first of its kind. The lab will pool together other manufacturers, start-ups, universities, and local digital competitors to bring the best of digital innovation to the steel and mining industries. Through the animation of the digital ecosystem, this lab is designed to accelerate the digital transformation of...
Focused on environmentally sound production of lithium, Cornish Lithium Ltd. is testing new technologies to extract the battery metal from geothermal waters at its United Downs facility in Cornwall, a region emblematic of the storied mining history and promising future in the United Kingdom. Cornwall traces its mining roots back more than 4,000 years to mines that churned out Bronze Age tin and copper. Beginning late in the 19th century, however, the enduring and proud traditi...
Luxury vehicle company BMW Group has turned renewable energy up to 11 by teaming up with legendary band Coldplay as part of their upcoming Music of the Spheres World Tour. This will be the world's first-ever mobile, rechargeable show, powered by the two partners' shared sustainability vision. Following the successful hit "Higher Power" synced in the BMW i4/iX commercial and the British band's performance in the virtual world of BMW JOYTOPIA at the IAA Mobility in Munich, BMW...
From the advancements of technology during the Bronze Age to the computers and telecommunication systems of today's Big Data Era, tin has been critical to human progress for at least 5,500 years. Sometime around 3500 BC, Sumerians living in modern day Turkey and Iran discovered that mixing a little tin with copper created bronze, an alloy that produced much more durable weapons and tools than those cast from copper alone. This cutting-edge discovery offered a strategic and...
From jewelry at a black-tie soiree to scrubbing harmful emissions from the exhaust system of a farm truck, the six platinum group metals – platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, and osmium – are metals that are both precious and critical to the United States and Canada. Extremely rare, durable, and with a brilliance that does not tarnish, platinum and other metals in its group are a treasured choice for high-end jewelry that stands the test of time. Three of the...
A heavy reliance on imports for a long list of minerals and metals critical to American supply chains could be a stumbling block for the Biden administration's ambitious "Build Back Better" agenda. "From the largest infrastructure plan since the Eisenhower interstate highway system, to an aggressive plan for a national energy transition, the Biden administration's agenda will require an immense amount of minerals," National Mining Association President and CEO Rich Nolan...
Scandium, one of 35 minerals identified as being critical to future production of high-tech and industrial technologies in the West, is seeing a surge in mining and extraction activity in response to increasing demand for the soft, silvery metallic element. Scandium is not particularly rare – its occurrence in crustal rocks is around 22 parts per million. It is generally more plentiful than lead, mercury, and precious metals. Yet scandium rarely concentrates in nature, so t...
