General Discussions

[kruddler]

Yep, Madame Curie was a genius. How did she die again?

A lack of information.

Same as people now.

Batteries are not sustainable long term. Its a medium term solution.

Pound for pound, Nucleur power (and the waste created) absolutely demolishes anything else in terms of output vs waste.

Handled appropriately, it will do the world of good.

[Mav]

Or maybe you could say Mme Curie unfortunately was at the cutting edge of new rather than mature technology. Nuclear power is now very mature whereas renewables and battery technologies will improve rapidly. Confining the comparison of nuclear and fossil fuel energy generation to only existing renewables & battery technology is misleading.

[capcom]

... whereas renewables and battery technologies will improve rapidly.

Guessing at best

[Mav]

If progress has been steady all this time, there’s obviously more on the way (stay tuned on that). First, there will be more in the incremental vein, as we have yet to reach the theoretical limits of lithium-ion. For example, when Tesla laid out its plans last year, there were many little things that added up to a hoped-for increase of around 50 percent in vehicle range and decrease of around 50 percent in per-kilowatt-hour cost. That came from cathode material tweaks, a high-silicon-content anode, a larger cylindrical cell design, a redesigned battery pack, and new manufacturing methods. Who knows how long it will take for all this to materialize, though Elon Musk claimed it would only be around three years.

Beyond the incremental, less predictable battery revolutions are also coming to placate the impatient. (Just don’t expect flying cars to be close behind.) The race to develop solid-state batteries that ditch liquid electrolytes—and perhaps also the bulk of the anode—seems to be heating up. That could bring sudden improvements in safety, longevity, or energy density.

Researchers have also long been chasing lithium-air batteries that could realize a huge jump in energy density. And beyond lithium, there are other entirely different chemistries in development out there. At some point, one of them should click for one application or another.

Lithium-ion or not, an explosion of grid-scale battery installations is coming as prices continue to fall. The nascent art of lithium-ion battery recycling is also sure to mature and expand, improving the sustainability of these batteries by recovering and resetting their chemical building blocks.

Adopt cold-fusion-like skepticism of any of these future-looking statements as you please, but today’s batteries aren’t those of 20 or even 10 years ago. The same thing is bound to be true in another 10 years—even if that progress doesn’t come in a single, giant leap with global fanfare.

Eternally five years away? No, batteries are improving under your nose, ArsTechnica

[Thryleon]

Batteries still have a very real issue. They need to be charged. 

Oh by the way, they've found a way to make nuclear waste into batteries.

[Mav]

And it only took them 70 years to do it. Imagine how much better (and how recyclable) non-nuclear batteries will be in the year 2060 ...

[Lods]

I'm pretty sure that if it came to the crunch we'd be pretty active in defence.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/dee...li=AAgfLCP

Leaving really isn't an easy option.
We can't just walk across a border. :

[LP]

None of the above addresses the fundamental problems, batteries all degrade over time then must be dealt with somehow, as do solar PV, as do catalysts in fuel cells. None of them are currently recycled, at the moment the nascent art of recycling is a dream.

Most of those pushing for these types of renewable energy would seem to have a conflict, and willfully ignore the filthy nature of the consuming solution they push. It is the same old filthy consumption model that Henry Ford marketed, rows and rows of panels and battery packets all mass produced assembled and sold for the consumers guilt free green pleasure. Just don't look under the mat! 

[ElwoodBlues1]

Him?  Sorry.  Can't stand the guy.

Agree, not a real fan of his humour and don't see him as an authority on world affairs either.

[capcom]

Still waiting for steggall to switch over to an ev like she promised.