Cement is one among our hardest challenges, as Brimstone CEO and 2024 innovator Cody Finke will let you know. I wrote about Brimstone and different efforts to reinvent cement earlier this 12 months.
One other factor
We’d like a complete lot of metals to handle local weather change, from the copper in transmission traces to the nickel in lithium-ion batteries that energy electrical autos. Some researchers suppose crops may be capable to assist.
Roughly 750 species of crops are so-called hyperaccumulators, that means they naturally take in and tolerate comparatively excessive concentrations of steel. A brand new program is funding analysis into how we’d use this trait to assist supply nickel, and doubtlessly different metals, sooner or later. Learn the total story right here.
Maintaining with local weather
A hurricane that not too long ago fashioned within the Gulf of Mexico is headed for Louisiana, ending an eerily quiet few weeks of the season. (Scientific American)
→ After forecasters predicted a very lively season, the lull in hurricane exercise was shocking. (New Scientist)
Rising sea ranges are one of many signs of a altering local weather, however nailing down precisely what “sea degree” means is extra difficult than you may suppose. We’ve gotten higher at measuring sea degree over the previous few centuries, although. (New Yorker)
The US Division of Power’s Mortgage Applications Workplace has almost $400 million in lending authority. This 12 months’s election might shift the main focus of that workplace drastically, making it a bellwether of how the outcomes might have an effect on power priorities. (Bloomberg)
What if fusion energy finally ends up working, but it surely’s too costly to play a major function on the grid? Some modelers suppose the expertise will stay costly and will come too late to make a dent in emissions. (Heatmap)
Electrical-vehicle gross sales are up general, however some main automakers are backing away from targets on zero-emissions autos. Though gross sales are growing, uptake is slower than many thought it might be, contributing to the nervous power within the business. (Canary Media)
It’s a troublesome time to be within the enterprise of next-generation batteries. The woes of three startups reveal that troublesome instances are right here, seemingly for some time. (The Data)