Cement is one in all our hardest challenges, as Brimstone CEO and 2024 innovator Cody Finke will inform you. I wrote about Brimstone and different efforts to reinvent cement earlier this 12 months.
One other factor
We’d like an entire lot of metals to deal with local weather change, from the copper in transmission strains to the nickel in lithium-ion batteries that energy electrical autos. Some researchers suppose vegetation would possibly be capable of assist.
Roughly 750 species of vegetation are so-called hyperaccumulators, that means they naturally absorb and tolerate comparatively excessive concentrations of steel. A brand new program is funding analysis into how we would use this trait to assist supply nickel, and doubtlessly different metals, sooner or later. Learn the complete story right here.
Maintaining with local weather
A hurricane that just lately shaped 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 stunning. (New Scientist)
Rising sea ranges are one of many signs of a altering local weather, however nailing down precisely what “sea stage” means is extra sophisticated than you would possibly suppose. We’ve gotten higher at measuring sea stage over the previous few centuries, although. (New Yorker)
The US Division of Vitality’s Mortgage Packages Workplace has practically $400 million in lending authority. This 12 months’s election might shift the main target 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 total, however some main automakers are backing away from objectives on zero-emissions autos. Regardless that gross sales are growing, uptake is slower than many thought it could be, contributing to the nervous power within the trade. (Canary Media)
It’s a troublesome time to be within the enterprise of next-generation batteries. The woes of three startups reveal that tough occasions are right here, probably for some time. (The Info)