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The Battle of Thacker Pass

Electric cars require a lot of lithium. A showdown in Nevada shows that getting it won’t be easy.
 
There’s no way around the fact that the U.S. needs lots of lithium to decarbonize its economy. Thus, according to Michael Whittaker, a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Lithium Resource Research and Innovation Center, it’s vitally important that we address the environmental issues posed by lithium mining.

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EESA Scientists Contribute to DOE GTO Research on Critical Minerals

Scientists in the Energy Geosciences Division are contributing to research sponsored by the DOE Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) investigating the potential extraction of lithium, rare earth elements, and other critical minerals that are dissolved constituents of hot geothermal brines that are used to produce electricity.

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New Research Technique Sheds Light on Least Understood Part of Lithium Batteries

One of the aspects of lithium-ion batteries least understood by scientists has now been elucidated by a new research approach, opening the door to major improvements in battery performance, according to a new study by Berkeley Lab scientists.

Their study, recently published in the journal Joule, used a technique developed by Berkeley Lab battery scientists in the Energy Technologies Area to illustrate the structures of large organic molecules generated during battery operation.

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