Interesting stats on EVs and energy use in the US, developments in wind and tidal power, a plastic recycling microfactory, and an "unprecedented collapse" in EU fossil fuel generation.
Check out this CBS News story about Chilean company T-Phite, which makes EV batteries with a substance called carbon black that comes from used tires.
The company uses an extreme heating process called pyrolysis to break the tires down into smaller molecules that form a number of byproducts. One of these byproducts is a substance known as "carbon black" that can be turned into a graphitic hard carbon and used as anodes to increase the conductivity and energy density of lithium-ion batteries.
I appreciated this quote from the article:
🌎
"Natural resources are already very limited and the fact that new solutions can be found from waste is very important," [T-Phite CEO] Bernardita Diaz said, adding that their process can go beyond lithium-ion batteries and extend to sodium batteries, "the next-generation batteries in electromobility."
It's interesting to see that the company CEO mentioned their technology can be used in sodium batteries as well as lithium ones. Is it just me or does it suddenly feel like sodium batteries are becoming more of an inevitability than a remote possibility? 🤔
