Concerned About Lithium? Don’t Be — We’ve Got Tons
A new, cheap, green source is proving itself
Lithium is the key ingredient common to virtually all rechargeable batteries on the market today. This raises questions regarding our electrified future, including electric vehicles (EVs). Can we build enough batteries? Where will the lithium come from? What are its environmental consequences?
Enter the Salton Sea. If you have never been there, it is a strange place in southern California. The place is an environmental disaster zone created mostly by water contamination and the effect of long-term drought. The “sea” has been shrinking, and many communities that had built up around it have turned into ghost towns.
The place is full of lithium. They say it could provide all of the projected need for lithium in the US. One entrepreneur there said it could provide 600,000 tons per year of production, while the annual global production is 400,000. That’s a massive resource.
Clean Lithium in the Salton Sea
Here’s what is interesting. In addition to lithium, the Salton Sea is an outstanding source of geothermal energy, and that geothermal energy is already under extensive development. There are eleven operating geothermal plants in the area. These plants generate…
