Energy shift creates opening for 'world's largest batteries'

“What are we willing to sacrifice to get this technology online?" said Bridget Moran, an associate director of American Rivers.

Sigh. What are you willing to sacrifice not to get this technology on line? This is low tech and doable now. If the pumps to bring water to the upper reservoir are solar and/or wind powered even better.

Seems regulatory constraints do indeed create a barrier here, the article mentioned China where that is clearly not a hurdle. With energy costs ballooning like they have and expectations of the US federal printing press running overtime, the economic challenges may be overcome - "environmental" (often more NIMBY than truly environmental) concerns will likely be a snag regardless in the US.

@OnTheTrail

Good point! In the US regulatory constraints and Environmental Regulations do create barrier for advancing many new technological projects. China was mentioned and yes China does not seem to care about their environment they just build. They have many grave concerns with air and water pollution. The problem is where will they dump the bi-products from all the waste that is generated. Over time they will see and experience the effects of putting economics over environmental.

It is no longer necessary to use cobalt in the cathode of Li batteries. Notice the dates on these articles are two years ago. This tech is coming on line very soon in production batteries from Panasonic / Tesla. Others will quickly follow.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200716101612.htm

https://www.azomining.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=1438

https://news.utexas.edu/2020/07/14/new-cobalt-free-lithium-ion-battery-reduces-costs-without-sacrificing-performance/

Green energy is a fraud! 

Nonsense. I have a roof full of solar panels that will pay me back in under seven years. They save me many hundreds of dollars per month in the summer.

The conditions you mention in some cobalt mines are a large part of the reason alternatives to cobalt have been devised. The demand for cobalt is not driven by renewables as you claim. Every Li battery used in electronics across the board, from cell phones to laptops to all kinds of household goods to car and motorcycle batteries to the batteries in some newer diesel-electric submarines use cobalt as the cathode. There is a prediction that demand for automotive batteries will increase demand for cobalt but if the substitutes are adopted as planned that will not happen. And obtw, that same tech will flow to all the other household goods, laptops and cellphone batteries that now use cobalt but won't in the near future. None of that makes green energy a fraud as you claim, just as this pumped storage hydropower project is anything but a fraud. It is a mature proven technology used all over the US including a very old example at Grand Coulee Dam.

I’ve always thought there should be a system to pump water into the Colorado River. I haven’t really thought about the source so much. The Great Lakes?

I’ve always thought there should be a system to pump water into the Colorado River.

You would not be the first.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/nijhuis/pipe-dreams-the-forgotten-project-that-could-have-saved-amer

http://www.earthtimes.org/business/plan-divert-mississippi-flood-waters-west-proposed/1206/

Read a book titled "Cadillac Desert" to understand the folly of such ideas, and why they are probably not necessary anyway.

Nothing wrong with using them, but your never going to be able to be off the grid completely with solar power or wind power alone.

I live in the desert. Having utility lines run out to your property if it is outside the developed areas is hideously expensive. I have co-workers who have been off the grid for decades. They have PV solar with battery back up. Some neighbors have small wind turbines as well. They require more maintenance than solar so I gave that a pass, at least for now. I may revisit this later because there is no shortage of wind where I live and they can save the batteries at night. But what you claim to be impossible has been a standard feature of desert living for a very long time. Thousands of my co-workers and their families live off the grid in our desert.

You won’t be around in 7 years according to Global warming believers.

Yes I will. You exaggerate greatly. It will take 50-100 years if we do nothing to make certain regions like the Persian Gulf or maybe Phoenix Arizona unlivable in the summer, or for seas to rise sufficiently to swamp places like Micronesia and Seychelles. I live in the high desert and our situation is a little more favorable. Flooding and sea level rise are not a concern and we are high enough that summer heat won't become dangerous. I'll see my 7yo boy grow up to be a man and share some fun with him. Even cities like LA and San Diego won't go away. If you look at the worst case sea level rise scenarios that flood the San Joaquin Valley for example, most of those cities on the US west coast are above the worst predicted sea level rise. Ports will be swamped as will downtown San Diego but most of the remainder of those cities are not in danger of being flooded. China however loses many of her greatest cities including Shanghai (while Beijing becomes a beach town !).