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Lithium ion batteries

Could the sand battery make renewable energy more dependable?

by Stephen Beard
Jul 29, 2022
A start-up in Finland unveils the world’s first commercial heat storage system using sand to solve the problem of the variability of solar and wind power.
The sand battery at Kankaanpaa in southwest Finland.
Courtesy Polar Night Energy
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The price of lithium is way up. And right now, electric cars depend on it.

by Stephanie Hughes
Jan 26, 2022
The metal is a key ingredient in the batteries that power all those electric cars.
The price of lithium, used in the batteries of electric vehicles, has increased by more than 40% in the past year.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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California's battery-supported grid off to a slow start

by Caroline Champlin
Jul 13, 2021
California’s grid operator hoped new battery storage could prevent rolling blackouts. Installation has been delayed.
The sun shines over towers carrying electical lines in South San Francisco, California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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Critical minerals for green energy may become scarce, new report warns

by Scott Tong
May 5, 2021
It's not just a mining issue. China leads in processing and purifying the minerals, but the United States lags in that industrial sector.
The world’s need for lithium for batteries may surge 75-fold in the next three decades.
David McNew/AFP via Getty Images
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Is lithium-ion the best way to power a renewable energy future?

by Noah Glick
Jan 1, 2021
Researchers are looking for alternative technologies that could offer safer, greener solutions.
Right now, the U.S. is dependent on imports for most batteries. But many of those metals, including lithium and cobalt, are available here in the U.S. What would owning the production of those metals look like?
David Becker/Getty Images
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Marketplace Tech Blogs

Will the U.S. invent the next generation of batteries?

by Molly Wood and Kristin Schwab
Dec 8, 2017
A potential lack of government funding could help other countries pull ahead.
GERARD JULIEN/AFP/GettyImages
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Marketplace Tech Blogs

Lithium-ion batteries are about as good as they can get

by Molly Wood and Kristin Schwab
Dec 7, 2017
But it's just a matter of time before the problem is solved, a UC Berkeley engineer says.
To make lithium-ion batteries better, you have to invent new materials, says Kristin Persson of UC Berkeley.
David Becker/Getty Images
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How Samsung's phone design caused battery problems

by Scott Tong
Oct 13, 2016
A lesson in the perils of the race to thinner, more energy-packed devices.
A South Korean employee works to provide replacement Samsung Galaxy Note7 smartphones at a telecommunications shop in Seoul.
JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images
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