Baltic Dry Index. 2213 -94 Brent Crude 107.01
Spot Gold 1922
Coronavirus Cases 02/04/20 World 1,000,000
Deaths 53,100
Coronavirus Cases 06/04/22 World 494,191,110
Deaths 6,183,579
"He alone could have led Russia into the enchanted quagmire; he alone could have found the way back to the causeway. He saw; he turned; he perished. The strong illuminant that guided him was cut off at the moment when he had turned resolutely for home. The Russian people were left floundering in the bog. Their worst misfortune was his birth: their next worst his death."
Winston S. Churchill. On Lenin
Today, something different. How this unnecessary European war might end by George Friedman.
https://geopoliticalfutures.com/author/gfriedman/
George Friedman is an internationally recognized geopolitical forecaster and strategist on international affairs and the founder and chairman of Geopolitical Futures.
How the Ukraine War Will Likely End
By George Friedman April 5, 2022
As we consider how the war in Ukraine will end, we must first understand how it began. Russia invaded for geostrategic reasons – having Ukraine as a buffer state safeguards Moscow from invasion from the west – and for economic reasons, which have often gone overlooked. The transition from the Soviet Union to the Russian Federation wasn’t exactly lucrative. It may have increased total wealth, but Russia remains a poor country. Its gross domestic product ranks just behind South Korea’s, a respectable placement but hardly where a superpower should be. And in terms of per capita GDP, Russia ranks 85th, nestled between Bulgaria and Malaysia.
Economic statistics rarely tell the whole story, of course, but in Russia’s case they fairly accurately present a country that is poorer than it appears, masked superficially by a top layer of the superrich elite. Life in major cities like St. Petersburg and Moscow is luxurious for the wealthy and bearable for the rest. Life in the countryside is something else entirely.
----The Russian army today seems disorganized, unimaginative and uninspired. The deployment of force, preparation of logistics and command of the battlefields on all levels simply wasn’t there. This was a different sort of Russian army, a bureaucratized one, one more afraid of the czar than of losing to the enemy. Putin demanded a rapid defeat of the enemy. But to rule by strength, you must see clearly and strike decisively at the center of gravity.
Ukraine had no center of gravity, only a widely dispersed light infantry force that provided no single point to destroy. Although that may seem like guerrilla warfare, it is not, and Ukraine surprised its enemy with resilience and unpredictability. The attacker can respond with brutal attacks on the population, but that leaves the Ukrainians with no choice but to fight. The Russian army wasn’t designed for this war, hadn’t planned for this war and has only brutal counter-civilian action to take. And Putin will take it.
The problem, then, is that Putin cannot stop, nor can he reach an agreement with Ukraine that he will keep. Every deal – except for surrender by the enemy – is a revelation of weakness on the part of a weak country and a weak ruler. The only alternatives are ineffective action because the force he sent to war was the wrong force from a country that didn’t have the right one.
----A crucial question is whether Russia has strategic reserves. The army has been in the field for over a month, in weather that is still cold, at the end of a logistical line that is problematic. It has been fighting a highly motivated, mobile light infantry force familiar with the terrain. It cannot go on indefinitely. Russia has to rotate its forces. Strategically, it must send more. Instead, it is executing a bloody withdrawal. You don’t fight for the same ground twice unless you have to.
This means that Putin’s war plan is shattered. The resistance has been effective and his troops need a relief he cannot provide. Putin will feint in other directions – perhaps in the Baltics or Moldova – but he lacks the force to fight on another front. He can’t sustain this war easily, especially in the face of NATO soldiers who have so far stayed out of the fray.
Even so, I cannot predict what a leader will do in the end. But for now, it’s clear to me that Putin will cling to power and blame everyone around him. But every day the war goes on, Putin gets weaker. Ukraine should not be able to resist, NATO should not be united, American economic warfare should not be so powerful. Putin is growing more desperate.
----If Putin gives up his position, he is compromised, and perhaps lost. The buzzards are circling. So he must continue to fight until he is forced out and someone else not responsible for the disaster takes over and blames it all on Putin. I think that this can’t end until Putin is pulled from the game.
More
https://geopoliticalfutures.com/how-the-ukraine-war-will-likely-end/
I have another ending. It ends with everyone losing except just possibly China, although even China will suffer from a greatly impoverished world.
Ukraine destroyed taking decades to rebuild and recover. Russia collapsed, in the east propped up by China, in the west fragmented and in anarchy.
The rest of the world undone economically by unthought out sanctions. Sanctions that progressively impoverish much of the world still trying to recover from a pandemic, supply chain disruptions, a diesel shortage and now facing a self imposed energy crisis and a food crisis that will likely bring on social chaos throughout much of planet Earth.
Russia-Ukraine fallout starts felling fragile 'frontier' economies
Mon, April 4, 2022, 5:05 PM
LONDON (Reuters) -The fallout of the Russia and Ukraine war has just helped tip two of world's poorest countries into full-blown crises, and the list of those at risk - and the queue at the International Monetary Fund's door - will only get longer from here.
They may be far from the fighting in Ukraine, but a mass resignation of Sri Lanka's cabinet on Monday and drastic weekend manoeuvres by Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan to avoid his removal, show how far the economic impact spreads.
Both Sri Lanka and Pakistan have seen their long-festering public disquiet about economic mismanagement come to a head, but there is a double-digit list of other countries also in the danger zone.
A handful were already on the brink of debt crises in the wake of the COVID pandemic, the war's resulting surge in energy and food prices, however, have undoubtedly made things worse.
Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya and others that also import the majority of their oil and gas as well as basic foodstuffs, such as wheat and corn, which have all soared between 25% and 40% this year, have also been facing heavy pressure.
Mounting costs of imports and subsidies for those everyday essentials had already convinced Cairo to devalue its currency 15% and seek IMF help in recent weeks. Tunisia and a long-resistant Sri Lanka have asked for assistance too.
Ghana, still reluctant to approach the Fund, meanwhile is seeing its currency slide, while Pakistan, a country already with 22 IMF programmes to its name, is almost certain to need more having now sunk into turmoil again.
"This energy shock is certainly contributing to the political uncertainty in Sri Lanka and Pakistan," said Renaissance Capital's chief economist Charlie Robertson, flagging it as a key factor for both Egypt and Ghana too.
---- Overindebted "frontier' economies", as the least developed group of countries are referred to, now owe $3.5 trillion — some $500 billion above pre-pandemic levels, the Institute of International Finance (IIF) estimates.
More
https://www.yahoo.com/news/analysis-russia-ukraine-fallout-starts-160510180.html
Ecuador banana industry slips over war in Ukraine
Issued on: 05/04/2022
El Triunfo (Ecuador) (AFP) – Until recently, the incessant bustle of Ecuadoran banana plantations provided evidence of the industry's robust export business. But from one week to the next, the groves have fallen silent -- trade victims to a conflict half a world away.
Ecuador is the world's largest banana exporter, but the sector has been hammered by the war in Ukraine. Now, with nowhere to send them, containers of the rotting fruit are piling up not far from where they were originally harvested.
"One in every five bananas produced in Ecuador goes to Ukraine and Russia," said Franklin Torres, president of Ecuador's FENABE banana producers federation.
"This war really affected us in that sense."
The vast majority of that portion goes to Russia, where banana sales are worth $698 million a year to Ecuador, which usually sends almost two million boxes of bananas a week to the eastern European neighbors.
But due to international transport sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is not receiving its cargos of bananas.
The conflict has put the brakes on production in El Triunfo, close to Guayaquil, the site of Ecuador's main port..
"The banana producers are finished, I have not processed a single box for three weeks," said Mireya Carrera, 62, the owner of the Thalia banana plantation.
---- Torres said it costs $5.50 to produce a box of bananas, and even though the internal sales price is $6.25, "right now we're receiving less than $2 for each box of bananas, we're receiving $1 or $1.20.
"Truly it's an insult to any type of business. What we're receiving is shameful and it's not even worth picking them."
He said the industry has lost "more than $10 million in three weeks."
"Every year we have the problem of low prices, but now it has become impossible to get a contract for bananas. I prefer to give them away," said Carrera.
Seeing Ecuador's surplus of bananas, other markets "have started reducing their price offers," said Richard Salazar, president of the ACORBANEC association for banana commercialization and export.
According to Jose Antonio Hidalgo, director of the AEBE association of banana exporters, within a week of the war starting, the bananas destined for Russia and Ukraine needed a new market, "causing a price crisis."
Around a million boxes have remained unsold in the last month.
---- The banana industry generates 50,000 direct jobs and 250,000 indirect ones in Ecuador.
The war has already cost around 6,000 permanent employees their jobs, according to ACORBANEC.
More
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220405-ecuador-banana-industry-slips-over-war-in-ukraine
U.S., allies ready new Russia sanctions after Bucha killings
April 6, 2022 4:35 AM GMT+1
· U.S., EU set to ban new investment in Russia
· Zelenskiy says Bucha killings demand punishment
· Ukraine reports attacks in south and east
LVIV, Ukraine, April 6 (Reuters) - The United States and its allies on Wednesday prepared new sanctions on Moscow over civilian killings in northern Ukraine, which President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described as "war crimes" demanding commensurate punishment.
Western sanctions on Russia over its nearly six-week invasion of its neighbour gained new impetus this week after dead civilians shot at close range were discovered in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, seized back from Russian forces.
Russia denied targeting civilians in Bucha and described evidence presented as a "monstrous forgery" staged by the West to discredit it. read more
New sanctions set to be unveiled Wednesday are in part a response to Bucha, the White House said.
The measures, coordinated between Washington, Group of Seven advanced economies and the European Union, will target Russian banks and officials and ban new investment in Russia, the White House said. read more
Proposed EU sanctions, which the bloc's 27 member states must approve, would ban buying Russian coal and prevent Russian ships from entering EU ports.
---- U.S. chipmaker Intel Corp (INTC.O) said on Tuesday it had suspended business operations in Russia, joining a slew of companies to exit the country. read more
In the small Russian city of Kaluga thousands of auto workers have been furloughed and food prices are soaring as Western sanctions hit its flagship foreign carmakers. read more
More
Finally, just how much gold do the Fed, US Treasury and Bank of England really have?
International Gold Bullion Exchange
International Gold Bullion Exchange was a gold bullion dealer that committed major fraud during the early 1980s.
International Gold Bullion Exchange was founded in 1979 by brothers William and James Alderdice. It grew to be reportedly the largest retail gold bullion dealer in the United States.[1] It offered sale and storage of gold and silver bullion and coins. The company would sell gold bullion at a discount if the buyer agreed to postpone taking delivery. It was headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, with offices in Los Angeles and Dallas and employed over 1000 people. The company advertised in national publications like the Wall Street Journal and Barron's.
The company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 1983 and then ceased operating. When the company's offices were raided by law enforcement, it turned out that the gold bar stacks shown in their advertising were only wooden blocks painted a gold color. While it operated the company collected over $140 million. At the time it shut down, there were $75 million in claims by 23,000 people. The company spent over $44 million on personal spending, salaries, marketing and travel and had little in assets when it shut down.
More
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Gold_Bullion_Exchange
Not to be confused, of course, with the Fed, BOE, or any other “legit” gold banking/custodian/trustee outfit. But remember, if you don’t have custody of the gold yourself, you don’t really “own” it. Just ask Venezuela or Russia.
Why did I take up stealing? To live better, to own things I couldn't afford, to acquire this good taste that you now enjoy and which I should be very reluctant to give up.
Cary Grant. To Catch A Thief.
Global Inflation/Stagflation Watch.
Given our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians, inflation now needs an entire section of its own.
Column: Saudi's record crude oil price for Asia shows Russia war impact: Russell
April 5, 2022 6:08 AM GMT+1
LAUNCESTON, Australia, April 5 (Reuters) - The jump in Saudi Arabia's crude oil prices for its Asian customers is a real world example of how the Russian invasion of Ukraine is starting to force a realignment of global oil markets.
Saudi Aramco (2222.SE), the state-controlled producer, raised its official selling price (OSP) for its flagship Arab Light crude for Asian refiners to a record premium of $9.35 a barrel above the Oman/Dubai regional benchmark. read more
An increase in the OSP had been anticipated, with a Reuters survey of seven refiners estimating the price would rise to a premium of between $10.70 and $11.90. read more
This means the actual increase from April's premium of $5.90 to May's $9.35 was somewhat below market expectations, but still highlights that refiners in Asia are going to be paying considerably more for Middle East crudes.
There are several factors at work driving the increase in Saudi OSPs, which tend to set the trend for price movements by other major Middle East exporters.
Spot premiums for Middle East grades hit all-time highs in March, a sign that usually points to higher OSPs as it signals strong demand from refiners.
However, these have slumped in recent trading sessions as physical traders mulled the impact of more crude being released from the strategic reserves of major importing nations, led by the U.S. commitment to supply 180 million barrels over a six-month period. read more
Another factor driving the increase in the OSPs for May cargoes is the strong margins being enjoyed by Asian refiners, especially for middle distillates, such as diesel.
More
IEA still examining details of coordinated oil release -Japan industry minister
April 5, 2022 1:48 AM GMT+1
TOKYO, April 5 (Reuters) - The International Energy Agency (IEA) is still examining details of a planned second round of the coordinated release of oil reserves, Japanese industry minister Koichi Hagiuda said on Tuesday.
Japan aims to make a decision on its release plan swiftly after receiving official notification from the IEA to make the cooperative action effective, Hagiuda told a news conference.
U.S.-allied countries on Friday agreed to their second coordinated oil release in a month to calm markets roiled by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the IEA said, without specifying volume, but adding details will be made public early this week. read more
Argentina's grain transporters call for strike amid fuel shortage
April 5, 2022 1:02 AM GMT+1
BUENOS AIRES, April 4 (Reuters) - Leaders from Argentina's major transportation union said on Monday they will call for a national strike to demand an increase in grain freight rates, as higher fuel costs cause tensions throughout the industry.
The national transport federation (Fe.Tr.A) is demanding the government increase the tariffs on grain producers to reflect the higher costs for fuel, which has been affected by galloping inflation.
"In order to avoid further damage to the economy of its members, (Fe.Tr.A) calls for a national stoppage of activities from Monday, April 11 at 00.00 hours (0300 GMT) until an answer is found," the federation said in a statement.
Around 86% of soybean transportation to Argentina's ports is carried out by trucks, 13% by trains and the remaining 1% by ships.
Agricultural producers in the South American country have expressed their concern about the lack of fuel in different production areas, at a time of the seasonal harvest of soybean and corn, the two main crops of the major global grains exporter.
Besides that, Argentina's main rural associations have previously warned about the lack of fuel in the current context of international shortage of diesel oil and a sharp reduction in the global food supply due to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
The second quarter of the year is the time when the bulk of soybeans and corn are harvested, which last year recorded exports of close to $30.5 billion, including soy oil and meal shipments.
Record-setting cold snap hits Europe, stunning spring crops
April 4, 2022
A historically intense April cold snap has descended on Europe, with temperatures plummeting to 20 to 30 degrees (11 to 18 degrees Celsius) below normal. The record-breaking cold has triggered harsh frosts, shocking early-blooming plants and crops in several countries.
The unseasonably cold weather, which arrived over the weekend, follows warmer-than-normal temperatures in previous weeks that caused a rapid greening of flora — particularly in France’s agricultural regions.
“It’s still difficult to evaluate the [damage] caused by the frost, but orchards (‘stone fruits’ such as plum trees, apricot, cherry) and vineyards have been impacted,” Jean-Marc Touzard, director of research at the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), said in an email.
Climate scientists are concerned that warming late-winter and early-spring temperatures are increasing the frequency of “false springs,” which spur earlier vegetation green-up before the threat has passed of frigid temperatures that can wipe out young, vulnerable plants.
----Guillaume Séchet, a French meteorologist, tweeted that April 1 to 3 were the coldest first three days of April in the country since at least 1930.
Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist who tracks international weather extremes, tweeted that freezing temperatures and record cold also were observed in Germany, Spain and Austria.
Weather maps showed a sprawling region of unseasonably cold conditions from Portugal to western Russia. The biggest temperature differences from normal were centered between Spain and Germany, with France hit hardest.
Warm winter conditions probably made crops more vulnerable to frost. In Germany, winter was warmer than normal and recorded nearly 20 more frost-free days than in an average year. According to the European Commission’s monthly crop monitoring bulletin, “Frost tolerance is rather weak, making crops susceptible to freezing temperatures” in Germany.
In France, winter was around 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) above normal from February to mid-March.
It’s the second straight year that a harsh cold spell has arrived after an unusually early spring bloom. Last year, parts of Europe experienced their warmest March on record before record cold arrived in early April. Switzerland and Slovenia registered record April low temperatures. Many locations in France and Italy endured their coldest April weather on record
More
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/04/04/europe-record-cold-france-agriculture/
Below, why a “green energy” economy may not be possible, and if it is, it won’t be quick and it will be very inflationary, setting off a new long-term commodity Supercycle. Probably the largest seen so far.
The “New Energy Economy”: An Exercise in Magical Thinking
https://media4.manhattan-institute.org/sites/default/files/R-0319-MM.pdf
Mines, Minerals, and "Green" Energy: A Reality Check
https://www.manhattan-institute.org/mines-minerals-and-green-energy-reality-check
"An Environmental Disaster": An EV Battery Metals Crunch Is On The Horizon As The Industry Races To Recycle
by Tyler Durden Monday, Aug 02, 2021 - 08:40 PM
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
'So many bodies piled up': Hong Kong funeral services overwhelmed by COVID
April 6, 2022 2:55 AM GMT+1
HONG KONG, April 6 (Reuters) - Traditional wooden coffins are running short in Hong Kong as authorities scramble to add mortuary space in the global financial hub's battle on COVID-19, which is swamping funeral parlours.
"I have never seen so many bodies piled up together," said funeral director Lok Chung, 37, who has been working round the clock, with about 40 funerals organised in March, up from roughly 15 in an average month.
---- Since the fifth wave of coronavirus hit the former British colony this year, it has reported more than a million infections and more than 8,000 deaths.
Scenes of bodies stacked in emergency rooms next to patients have shocked many as places in mortuaries have filled up.
A long wait for death documents to be processed has hindered work, added Chung, who rushed from a mortuary last week to make final arrangements for his latest COVID-19 patient.
More
Shanghai scrambles to secure food supplies as COVID lockdown hits
April 6, 2022 5:23 AM GMT+1
SHANGHAI, April 6 (Reuters) - Residents in the major Chinese financial centre of Shanghai, with 26 million under lockdown, scrambled to secure food on Wednesday, with supermarkets shut and deliveries restricted amid another citywide COVID-19 testing programme.
The government of the city, which is in the grips of its biggest-ever COVID-19 outbreak, said on Wednesday it would not consider lifting restrictions until the latest tests were completed and the results evaluated.
Wu Qianyu, an official with the city's health commission, told a briefing on Wednesday that Shanghai was in a "race against time" against the outbreak.
With many compounds already locked down for more than two weeks, residents have grown frustrated with the restrictions, testing requirements and availability of food and other necessities.
Many have called for asymptomatic cases to be allowed to quarantine at home, and policies that separate COVID-positive children from their parents have drawn fire. read more
Liu Min, vice-head of Shanghai's commerce commission, told reporters at the briefing that authorities were working hard to resolve bottlenecks and take care of the "basic living needs" of the population.
She said efforts would be made to ship food and other necessities to Shanghai from other provinces, and would also build emergency supply stations in and around the city to ensure vegetable supplies. But she said the biggest challenge was getting deliveries to homes.
More
Gilead's remdesivir fails to show benefit in European trial; no fetus risk seen with first trimester vaccination
April 4, 2022 8:19 PM GMT+1
April 4 (Reuters) - The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review.
Two promising drugs for COVID-19 fail to deliver
Two drugs that looked like promising treatments for COVID-19 in preliminary studies - remdesivir for hospitalized patients and camostat for patients who are not seriously ill - failed to show a benefit in those groups in randomized controlled trials, researchers reported in two separate papers.
In five European countries, researchers studied 843 COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized between March 2020 and January 2021 and who needed oxygen or machines to help with breathing. Two week after patients had received either Gilead Sciences' (GILD.O) antiviral remdesivir - sold as Veklury - plus standard of care or standard of care alone for up to 10 days, there was no difference between the groups in signs of improvement, investigators reported on Thursday.
In Japan between November 2020 and March 2021, researchers randomly assigned 155 patients with mild or moderate COVID-19 to receive the pancreatitis drug camostat mesylate from Ono Pharmaceutical Co (4528.T) or a placebo for up to 14 days. Camostat blocks an enzyme that helps some versions of the coronavirus infect cells - including the variants circulating at the time of the study - but did not help patients get rid of the virus in their airways any faster than placebo, the Japanese researchers reported on Saturday. They said the results "highlight... the necessity of conducting well-designed studies to confirm whether preclinical findings translate into meaningful clinical efficacy." Both studies were posted on medRxiv ahead of peer review.
More
Next, some vaccine links kindly sent along from a LIR reader in Canada.
NY Times Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html
Regulatory Focus COVID-19 vaccine tracker. https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker
Some other useful Covid links.
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus resource centre
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
Rt Covid-19
Centers for Disease Control Coronavirus
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
The Spectator Covid-19 data tracker (UK)
https://data.spectator.co.uk/city/national
Technology Update.
With events happening fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section. Updates as they get reported.
Today, seasonal energy storage? A “hibernating” battery.
"Hibernating" battery for seasonal storage releases energy when heated
Nick Lavars April 04, 2022
Scientists continue to explore advanced battery technologies that could help us unlock the full potential of renewable energy, working to address the intermittent nature of power coming from the sun and wind. A team at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has come up with a new design that ticks a few important boxes in this area, demonstrating a type of "hibernating" battery that can preserve its energy for months at a time.
The type of energy storage technology at the center of this research is known as a molten-salt battery. These have been around for more than 50 years in various forms, and are fancied as a grid-scale storage solution for renewable energy due to their low cost and use of commonly available materials.
These devices use molten salt as the electrolyte, which is the solution that carries the electrical charge between a battery's two electrodes, the cathode and the anode. Keeping the electrolyte at high temperature keeps the salt in a molten state and sees it flow like a liquid, but at room temperature it becomes solid. The PNNL team has leveraged these attributes to produce what's described as a temperature-based hibernating battery.
The device consists of an aluminum anode and nickel cathode, which are immersed in a molten salt electrolyte doped with sulfur for an extra capacity boost. The battery is charged by heating it to 180 °C (356 °F), which sees ions flow through the liquid electrolyte to generate chemical energy. Cooling the battery to room temperature solidifies the electrolyte and freezes the ions in place, locking in the energy until the battery is reheated to get the energy flowing again.
For this reason, the scientists also refer to the device as a "freeze-thaw battery," and though the prototype is only around the size of a hockey puck, they are optimistic about its potential to be scaled up. Its theoretical density is 260 Wh per kilogram, higher than today's lead-acid and flow batteries, and its energy is stored at a materials cost of around US$23 per kWh, which the team hopes to bring down to around $6 per kWh by incorporating iron into the design. In testing, the battery retained 92 percent of its capacity over 12 weeks.
“It’s a lot like growing food in your garden in the spring, putting the extra in a container in your freezer, and then thawing it out for dinner in the winter,” said first author Minyuan “Miller” Li.
We have seen a couple of promising innovations in molten-salt battery technology of late. Typically, molten-salt batteries use a ceramic separator between the anode and cathode to control which molecules are allows to pass through. In 2018, an MIT team showed how a more durable steel mesh could be used instead. Last year, a team at Sandia National Laboratories also demonstrated a cheaper version that could operate at far lower temperatures than conventional designs. The PNNL team has also opted for an alternative to the ceramic separator used in typical molten-salt batteries, going with fiberglass instead, which they say is cheaper and more durable.
Eventually, the scientists hope the technology can come to offer a form of seasonal energy storage, collecting energy at one time of the year for use in another. And because the battery can sit idle while maintaining most of its stored energy, it would only need to be charged and discharged a few times a year.
“You can start to envision something like a large battery on a 40-foot tractor-trailer parked at a wind farm,” said co-author Vince Sprenkle. “The battery is charged in the spring and then the truck is driven down the road to a substation where the battery is available if needed during the summer heat.”
The scientists have filed a patent for the technology and have published their research in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science.
“This sucker could go down.”
President George W. Bush. September 2008.
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