#ion mines

[raointean]

From chapter 2 of Alexander Freed's "Reign of the Empire: The Mask of Fear"

[14106]

has this ever happened to u omg

[reasonsforhope]

Green energy is in its heyday. 

Renewable energy sources now account for 22% of the nation’s electricity, and solar has skyrocketed eight times over in the last decade. This spring in California, wind, water, and solar power energy sources exceeded expectations, accounting for an average of 61.5 percent of the state's electricity demand across 52 days. 

But green energy has a lithium problem. Lithium batteries control more than 90% of the global grid battery storage market. 

That’s not just cell phones, laptops, electric toothbrushes, and tools. Scooters, e-bikes, hybrids, and electric vehicles all rely on rechargeable lithium batteries to get going. 

Fortunately, this past week, Natron Energy launched its first-ever commercial-scale production of sodium-ion batteries in the U.S. 

“Sodium-ion batteries offer a unique alternative to lithium-ion, with higher power, faster recharge, longer lifecycle and a completely safe and stable chemistry,” said Colin Wessells — Natron Founder and Co-CEO — at the kick-off event in Michigan. 

The new sodium-ion batteries charge and discharge at rates 10 times faster than lithium-ion, with an estimated lifespan of 50,000 cycles.

Wessells said that using sodium as a primary mineral alternative eliminates industry-wide issues of worker negligence, geopolitical disruption, and the “questionable environmental impacts” inextricably linked to lithium mining. 

“The electrification of our economy is dependent on the development and production of new, innovative energy storage solutions,” Wessells said. 

Why are sodium batteries a better alternative to lithium?

The birth and death cycle of lithium is shadowed in environmental destruction. The process of extracting lithium pollutes the water, air, and soil, and when it’s eventually discarded, the flammable batteries are prone to bursting into flames and burning out in landfills. 

There’s also a human cost. Lithium-ion materials like cobalt and nickel are not only harder to source and procure, but their supply chains are also overwhelmingly attributed to hazardous working conditions and child labor law violations. 

Sodium, on the other hand, is estimated to be 1,000 times more abundant in the earth’s crust than lithium. 

“Unlike lithium, sodium can be produced from an abundant material: salt,” engineer Casey Crownhart wrote ​​in the MIT Technology Review. “Because the raw ingredients are cheap and widely available, there’s potential for sodium-ion batteries to be significantly less expensive than their lithium-ion counterparts if more companies start making more of them.”

What will these batteries be used for?

Right now, Natron has its focus set on AI models and data storage centers, which consume hefty amounts of energy. In 2023, the MIT Technology Review reported that one AI model can emit more than 626,00 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent. 

“We expect our battery solutions will be used to power the explosive growth in data centers used for Artificial Intelligence,” said Wendell Brooks, co-CEO of Natron. 

“With the start of commercial-scale production here in Michigan, we are well-positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for efficient, safe, and reliable battery energy storage.”

The fast-charging energy alternative also has limitless potential on a consumer level, and Natron is eying telecommunications and EV fast-charging once it begins servicing AI data storage centers in June. 

On a larger scale, sodium-ion batteries could radically change the manufacturing and production sectors — from housing energy to lower electricity costs in warehouses, to charging backup stations and powering electric vehicles, trucks, forklifts, and so on. 

“I founded Natron because we saw climate change as the defining problem of our time,” Wessells said. “We believe batteries have a role to play.”

-via GoodGoodGood, May 3, 2024

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Note: I wanted to make sure this was legit (scientifically and in general), and I'm happy to report that it really is! x, x, x, x

[misstenletters]

ᴍᴏɴᴀʟᴇᴏ ꜰᴏʀ ɢᴀʟᴏʀᴇ ᴍᴀɢᴀᴢɪɴᴇ (2024).

[pembroke]

be wary the pink. be wary the rose. beware of beauty divine, unopposed ✨ another set of character designs from the shepherd king duology, this time ione (x2) and prince elm

[pie-bean]

Ione has a house that's both really cute and very practical. It's great!

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Recycling lithium-ion batteries to recover their critical metals has significantly lower environmental impacts than mining virgin metals, according to a new Stanford University lifecycle analysis published in Nature Communications. On a large scale, recycling could also help relieve the long-term supply insecurity -- physically and geopolitically -- of critical battery minerals. Lithium-ion battery recyclers source materials from two main streams: defective scrap material from battery manufacturers, and so-called "dead" batteries, mostly collected from workplaces. The recycling process extracts lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, and aluminum from these sources.

Read more.

[finelythreadedsky]

ugh i am going to have to say things about euripides' helen. this is bad for me, a person who is incredibly intimidated by euripides' helen.

[catspaw-isle]

so many cuties out and about resident services today!

[hopefulalways]

lvoless core (I made this 3 years ago but people don’t change much)

litany in which certain things are crossed out - richard siken / the broken column- frida kahlo / american teenager - ethel cain/ genera+tion (2021) / primer for small weird loves - richard siken / girl pictures - justine kurland

[chirpycloudyrobin]

this au has probably been done before but let me yap

au where kdj is somehow able to rewrite so much of reality at the cost of himself that he was able to literally write himself out of reality AND make sure everyone else has their happy endings.

he has pinpointed himself as the sole reason why everyone's lives has gone to shit and maybe this is one of the ways he thinks to repent. he's got all this godlike powers now. he won't exist after this but lmao this is a small price to pay for what everyone went through because of him, right ?

hsy never had to write WOS because there was no 15 year old boy who needed it to live. instead she was able to write the novels she wanted to write. she's a happy, successful writer. no one's lives rested in her hands.

his mother never got married to his father. she lives a free life. she was never a murderer. there are no regrets haunting her. she doesnt have a failure for a son.

yoo sangah works at a much better workplace where her coworkers actually respect her and she's able to live her best life. maybe she's backed by some of the most powerful people in the corporate world.

the WOS characters are instead rewritten into reality. there is no apocalypse. they're all living their best normal lives. yjh is a successful pro-gamer and he's not weighed down by failures of a thousand lifetimes. maybe bihyung is his overworked manager lmao. yma gets to grow up with her older brother and there's no need to worry if she'll see him again. sys grows up happy and loved without blood in her hands. her dog grows with her, unharmed. her parents adopted lee gilyoung. ljh goes to uni w nbr. maybe she's yjh's gaming protege. jhw works with uriel at their own law firm. lhs lives his life volunteering and he doesnt rigidly follow the soldier's manual anymore. lsh is one of the top doctors in the country.

hades and persephone run a successful chain of gourmet restaurants with branches all over the globe. abfd is han sooyoung's cousin who annoys her at any opportunity. he and knw are chuuni bros. maybe they cosplay together too lmao. sun wukong's either a famous martial artist or an actor, ill get back to u on that.

maybe they're all connected with eachother like the world's most unexpected friend group. maybe they're a bunch of social circles that happen to have a lot of mutual ties. one thing they all do have in common is that they have this distinctive feeling that something is missing. they all have their perfect little lives, but why does it feel like something is wrong ? why does looking at a subway make them feel so melancholic ?

idk how theyll end up realising WHO they're missing but it's going to destroy them fr 🥳

[eggsmas-art]

a lil suggestive, nothing is showing but there’s the slightest hint of boob

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fujicakes

[14106]

:D ouuu

it looks so funny without all the stuff on it

i feel like he's abt to fuckigng hit my skull w a bottle

[reasonsforhope]

"Sodium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage are moving toward the mainstream. Wider use of these batteries could lead to lower costs, less fire risk and less need for lithium, cobalt and nickel.

On Nov. 18, CATL, the world’s largest battery manufacturer, announced its second-generation sodium-ion battery, mass production of which would begin in 2027. The China-based company said the new battery has an energy density of 200 watt-hours per kilogram, which is an increase from 160 watt-hours per kilogram for the previous generation that launched in 2021. Higher energy density in an EV battery translates into more driving range.

On Nov. 21, a consortium of seven U.S. national laboratories announced a new initiative in which they would spend $50 million to foster collaboration to accelerate the development of sodium-ion batteries. The partnership is led by Argonne National Laboratory in the Chicago area.

The two announcements are part of a larger shift as governments, researchers and companies look for alternatives to lithium-ion batteries, the dominant technology for EVs and energy storage.

For now, there are no passenger cars or trucks sold in the United States that use sodium-ion batteries. Some sodium-ion models are available in China and countries that import vehicles from China. 

“The reason we’re pursuing this is very simple,” said Venkat Srinivasan, a battery scientist at Argonne and the director of the new collaboration. “It’s because the huge demand in lithium-ion batteries has meant that we have a supply-chain constraint.

“We have a problem with cobalt. We have a problem with nickel,” he said, naming two of the metals often used in lithium-ion batteries.

Cobalt, nickel and lithium carry a variety of concerns, including the environmental damage of mining. [Note: Which is massive, and so are the human rights issues associated with lithium mining, which involves horrible conditions and is exacerbating conflict and civil wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo.] ...

In contrast, a sodium-ion battery relies on an element—sodium—that you can find in table salt and ocean water...

Also, a sodium-ion battery has much lower risk of fire. When lithium-ion batteries sustain damage, it can lead to “thermal runaway,” which triggers a dangerous and toxic fire.

The process of manufacturing sodium-ion batteries is similar to that of lithium-ion batteries, or at least similar enough that companies can shift existing assembly lines without having to spend heavily on retooling.

But sodium-ion batteries have some disadvantages. The big one is low energy density compared to lithium-ion. As a result, an EV running on a sodium-ion battery will go fewer miles per charge than a lithium-ion battery of the same size...

The national labs’ initiative has a five-year timeline, with a goal of developing sodium-ion batteries with energy densities that match or exceed those of today’s iron phosphate-based lithium-ion batteries. Researchers would do this by finding various efficiencies in design and materials.

The project is happening alongside the labs’ ongoing work to develop and improve other kinds of batteries.

Lithium-ion batteries dominate today’s market...

However, sodium-ion battery production is growing, and is projected to reach 140 gigawatt-hours by 2030, about 13 times its current level, according to Benchmark. Lithium-ion production also is projected to nearly triple by 2030.

“The key market driver for sodium-ion batteries is their potential to be cost competitive with lithium-ion batteries,” said Catherine Peake, an analyst for Benchmark...

Most of the push by battery companies to build sodium-ion systems is happening in China, but some of it is happening in other markets, including a plan by California-based Natron Energy to open its first large plant in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Natron made its announcement about the $1.4 billion project in August and has not given a timeline for when the plant would be online.

Meanwhile, researchers and companies continue working on other battery technologies.

I asked Srinivasan how sodium-ion batteries fit into this larger picture. He said sodium-ion will likely gain market share over the next few years as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries.

Near the end of the decade, solid-state batteries will begin to become available, which would allow for higher energy densities and longer driving ranges. Solid-state batteries use a solid electrolyte instead of a liquid or gel. The electrolyte is the substance through which ions move as they go from side to side during charging and discharging.

The technologies can coexist in the market, Srinivasan said.

He thinks solid-state batteries will initially be most common in high-end models and popular with people who want the longest possible ranges.

He expects that sodium-ion batteries will be more common in low-cost EVs for people who live in cities or suburbs and don’t place a high premium on driving range.

“It will not be a fringe player,” he said, about sodium-ion. “It will actually be a fast-growing segment.”"

-via Inside Climate News, December 6, 2024

[justghostthings]

Sweet lil bunny tummy :)

[He/xe] 18+

(op is a dude!! straight men and strictly wlw/lesbian based blogs dni!!!!!)

[gloomyoutsider]

So... I've watched "I Saw The TV Glow" and my life will never be the same. I can't put it into words guys... just watch it!