November 2023 – Page 5 – This is Not Cool

Disruption? For Wind Turbines, EVs – Rare Earth Free Magnets

Permanent magnets serve a growing but unseen function in modern technology. Permanent-magnet motors transfer energy to motion and power everyday gadgets such as computers, appliances, and vehicles.

Magnets consisting of rare-earth elements (such as NdFeB magnets) are the most commonly employed for high-performance applications. However, the mining, extraction, and manufacturing processes are labor-demanding, costly, and environmentally harmful. Prices for these resources have historically been volatile due to supply chain and geopolitical challenges, and they have risen in recent years.

Aiming to find a solution to this rising issue, automaker General Motors (GM) has now teamed up with US startup Niron Magnetics to further the development of the latter’s rare-earth-free permanent magnets. The partnership aims to address the most pressing issues associated with such permanent magnet motos, like rising prices, supply chain instability, environmental impact, and long-term availability concerns.

Permanent magnets in EV motor rotors are generally constructed of rare-earth minerals like terbium, dysprosium, praseodymium, and neodymium, which are costly and are now manufactured nearly completely overseas, primarily in China.

As the use of electric vehicles (EVs) grows, so do the obstacles. Rising magnet demand for EVs, wind turbines, and other applications is expected to cause shortages over the next five years, resulting in severe competition and even higher pricing.

Offering an alternative, Niron’s unique Clean Earth Magnet technology is based on iron nitride, a plentiful and inexpensive material with great economic promise in future EVs. The startup has developed the “world’s first and only permanent magnet with automotive-grade power that is entirely free from critical materials, including rare or heavy rare earth minerals,” said a statement from GM.

How Climate Models Succeed, and Where they Have Not

Above, John Abraham on Climate models.

Below, Dr Andrew Dessler and writer Bill McKibben on where models have succeeded, and where they fall short.

John Abraham on Climate and Stronger Hurricanes

More from the wide ranging conversation last week.
John Abraham is part of one of the most significant global teams following Ocean heat, and will be releasing an annual update in the new year.

John Abraham PhD on Adapting to Extreme Weather

I’ll be posting a few more clips from my recent chat with John Abraham.
John and I go back a while, but what he’s doing now ranges widely between tracking ocean temperatures as part of a globally significant “A” team, working on energy technologies, and AI.

Climate Protesters Killed by Gunman. On Camera.

Obviously thought he was the “good guy with a gun.”

Yahoo:

Kenneth Darlington, a 77-year-old lawyer and professor, has been arrested for shooting two environmental protesters blocking the road in a shocking incident on a Panamanian highway.

For three weeks, protesters opposed the Panamanian government’s deal with a Canadian firm. They reportedly demanded to extend Central America’s largest copper mine operation for at least 20 more years. However, Darlington grew weary of these protests and took the matter into his own hands.

He waved his gun, shook his finger, and argued with demonstrators before ultimately firing and killing two people on film. Authorities identified the victims as Abdiel Diaz and Ivan Mendoza. The incident marked the first fatalities in protests that began on October 20, 2023.

Kenneth Darlington, a lawyer and professor with dual citizenship in the US and Panama, has a reported history of a previous conviction for illegal possession of a firearm. According to media reports, Darlington, who resides in the Paitilla district of Panama City, was stuck in a traffic jam caused by protesters. They had set up a roadblock on the highway, approximately 55 miles west of Panama City, the country’s capital.

Reportedly, as Kenneth Darlington got out, he told other passengers in the car, “Today, this ends.” Approaching the roadblock, he argued fiercely with protestors, including the two victims. After an argument with the protesters, Darlington allegedly opened fire. As per the footage, the first victim, who was in a black t-shirt and blue hat, fell to the ground immediately. A few second later, he opened fire again and killed another man.

One of the victims died at the scene, while another succumbed to his injuries later in the hospital. The severity of the incident raises questions about the escalating tensions between protesters and those opposing their methods.

Authorities charged Kenneth Darlington with murder and illegal possession of a gun. However, the reports suggest that he could avoid jail time because of his age.

LBC (UK):

Darlington had finished running errands with his wife, Yessica Uribe, and a friend when they approached a traffic jam caused by the protest.

He reportedly Darlington told the women, “this ends here,” before stepping out of the vehicle and got into a heated argument with a group of men that included the two victims.

In front of a large number of photographers and television crews there to film the protest, he then gunned down the two men.

Darlington then pleaded with his wife to drive from the scene, but she refused, leading to his arrest.

Jesse Jenkins on Twitter:

What does it mean that EV sales are “slowing”? Year-on-year growth rates have been ~60% in each of the last several months. That’s a rate fast enough to double sales in about 18 months. It’s hard to see growth that fast as “slowing” sales.

The best (and only) quantitative evidence presented for the dominant media narrative is this data, as presented in a WSJ piece yesterday here: dealers for traditional OEMs (Ford, VW etc) are taking more time to move EVs off the lots.

Dealers are also increasing discounts to help move EVs off lots. Of course, trendline is up for avg discounts on ALL vehicles (ICE & EV), and this data excludes EV-only makers like Tesla & Rivian who dont use dealer networks, so this is really a story about incumbent automakers.

Microplastics Problem Just Got Worse

Guardian:

A type of zooplankton found in marine and fresh water can ingest and break down microplastics, scientists have discovered. But rather than providing a solution to the threat plastics pose to aquatic life, the tiny creatures known as rotifers could be accelerating the risk by splitting the particles into thousands of smaller and potentially more dangerous nanoplastics.

Each rotifer, named from the Latin for “wheel-bearer” owing to the whirling wheel of cilia around their mouths, can create between 348,000 and 366,000 nanoplastics – particles smaller than one micrometre – each day.

The animals are microscopic, ubiquitous and abundant, with up to 23,000 individuals found living in one litre of water, in one location. The researchers, from a team led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, calculated that in Poyang Lake, the largest lake in China, rotifers were creating 13.3 quadrillion of these plastic particles every day.

Plastic can take up to 500 years to decompose. As it ages, tiny pieces break off. Physical and chemical processes are known to break them down, including when exposed to sunlight or when waves grind bits of plastic against rocks, beaches or other obstacles floating in the ocean.

The scientists sought to examine what role aquatic life might play in microplastic creation, especially after the discovery in 2018 that Antarctic krill are able to break down polyethylene balls into fragments of less than one micrometre. Baoshan Xing, a professor of environmental and soil chemistry at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Stockbridge School of Agriculture, said they decided to look at rotifers because they had specialised chewing apparatus similar to krill. They wanted to test the hypothesis that rotifers, of which there are 2,000 species worldwide, could also break down plastic.