Sodium-ion batteries are cheaper than lithium-ion batteries — and they're also more environmentally friendly. And "In the past few years, sodium-ion battery production has increased in the United States," reports the Washington Post, with a new factory planned to manufacture them "in the same way as lithium-ion batteries, just with different ingredients. Instead of using expensive materials like lithium, nickel and cobalt, these will be made of sodium, iron and manganese..." Last month, sodium-ion battery manufacturer Natron Energy announced it would open a "gigafactory" in North Carolina that would produce 24 gigawatt hours of batteries annually, enough energy to charge 24,000 electric vehicles. But sodium-ion batteries are still early in their development compared with lithium-ion, and they have yet to hit the market on a massive scale. "It's unlikely sodium-ion could displace lithium-ion anytime soon," said Keith Beers, polymer science and materials chemistry principal engineer at technical consultancy firm Exponent... The biggest limitation of sodium-ion batteries is their weight. Sodium weighs nearly three times as much as lithium, and it cannot store the same amount of energy. As a result, sodium-ion batteries tend to be larger. Jens Peters, an economics professor at the University of Alcalá in Madrid, said the energy density could be improved over time in sodium-ion batteries. But, he added, "what we found out so far in our assessments is that it is not a game changer." Sodium-ion batteries are touted to be the environmentally friendly alternative to their lithium-ion counterparts, thanks to their raw materials. Sodium, iron and manganese are all abundant elements on the planet, so they require less energy to extract and cost less... Sodium-ion batteries also last longer than lithium-ion ones because they can withstand more charge cycles, said Wendell Brooks, co-CEO of Natron Energy. "Our product can have millions of cycles," said Brooks, "where lithium-ion would have three to five thousand cycles and wear out a lot faster...." Sodium-ion batteries aren't the best fit for smartphones or electric vehicles, which need to store lots of energy. However, one advantage is their low cost. And they could be a good candidate in situations where the size of the battery isn't a concern, like energy storage. "When something is built out to support grid or backup storage, it doesn't need to be very dense. It's staying put," Beers said. Natron will invest nearly $1.4 billion in the factory "to meet the rapidly expanding demand for critical power, industrial and grid energy storage solutions," according to their announcement. "Natron's high-performance sodium-ion batteries outperform lithium-ion batteries in power density and recharging speed, do not require lithium, cobalt, copper, or nickel, and are non-flammable... Natron's batteries are the only UL-listed sodium-ion batteries on the market today, and will be delivered to a wide range of customer end markets in the industrial power space, including data centers, mobility, EV fast charging, microgrids, and telecom, among others."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Data Bridge Market Research expects the text-to-speech market to grow at a compound annual rate of 30.20 percent.

MarketsandMarkets projects 44.8 percent CAGR for the AI agent technology market over the next six years.

Technavio projects 34 percent CAGR for smart speakers driven by voice commerce and smart home popularity.

El único comportamiento sospechoso de este policía definido como "austero" por sus vecinos era que "cambiaba casi cada mes de coche: Range Rover, BMW, Mercedes..." Leer

[Premium Times] MTN Nigeria hopes to use the cash to bridge the working capital gap in the short term.

The Senate on Friday approved a $460 billion package of spending bills in time to meet a midnight deadline for avoiding a shutdown of many key federal agencies,

The post Congress passes first package of spending bills just hours before shutdown deadline for key agencies first appeared on Federal News Network.

President Joe Biden has signed into law a package of spending bills passed by the Senate in time to avoid a partial government shutdown.

The post Biden signs package of spending bills just hours before government shutdown deadline first appeared on Federal News Network.

Negotiators from Congress and the White House are scrambling to complete work on funding government agencies for the fiscal year and avoid a partial shutdown.

The post Negotiators race to finish government funding bills after reaching deal on Homeland Security bill first appeared on Federal News Network.

Catie Miller chats with Amanda Dolasinski, social media manager at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, about Star Wars, Bill Nye, and her mad pitching skills.

The post Bill Nye, patents, and Play Doh — oh my! first appeared on Federal News Network.

The legislation comes after recent federal records controversies where officials lost or deleted messages, like the missing Jan. 6 Secret Service texts.

The post Senate bill aims to bring federal records law into the age of ‘WhatsApp’ first appeared on Federal News Network.

The continuing resolution reauthorizes funds to avoid a 22% pay cut for 11,000 federal employees who spend most of their time overseas.

The post Congress passes stopgap bill to avoid government shutdown, 22% pay cut for feds overseas first appeared on Federal News Network.

The Social Security Fairness Act, a bill to undo WEP and GPO, has enough support to force a floor vote. But that’s unlikely to happen until at least November.

The post Bill to repeal WEP, GPO reaches threshold to force a House floor vote first appeared on Federal News Network.

The United States will soon have a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery

The post Congress approves bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday first appeared on Federal News Network.

President Joe Biden has signed legislation Thursday establishing a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery, saying he believes it will go down as one of the greatest honors he has as president

The post Biden signs bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday first appeared on Federal News Network.

Together, we can make sure that as veterans transition to civilian life, it opens doors to new opportunities and ways to thrive. 

The post Servicemember comes full-circle: Serving our nation as an Army sergeant, VA training specialist on the Digital GI Bill first appeared on Federal News Network.

Speaker Mike Johnson has postponed a vote on a temporary spending bill that would keep federal agencies and programs funded for six months.

The post Speaker Johnson postpones vote on a bill to avoid a partial government shutdown first appeared on Federal News Network.

VA needed emergency funding by Friday to avoid delays in compensation and pension benefit payments that go to 7 million veterans and their survivors.

The post Senate passes $3B VA supplemental funding bill, averting delay in veterans’ benefits first appeared on Federal News Network.

The Senate has approved a wide-ranging defense policy bill, sending it to President Donald Trump, despite his threat to veto it because the bill does not clamp down on big tech companies he claims were biased during the election

The post Senate sends Trump defense bill he has vowed to veto first appeared on Federal News Network.

The Democratic-controlled House has voted to override President Donald Trump’s veto of a defense policy bill

The post House votes to override Trump’s veto of defense bill first appeared on Federal News Network.

President Donald Trump is lashing out at congressional Republicans after the House easily voted to override his veto of a defense policy bill

The post Trump lashes out at GOP after override vote on defense bill first appeared on Federal News Network.

The House has passed a defense policy bill that authorizes the biggest pay raise for troops in more than two decades. Supporters overcame objections from some conservatives concerned it didn’t do enough on cultural issues, such as restricting the Pentagon’s diversity initiatives and gender-affirming health care for transgender service members. The Senate had already overwhelmingly passed the bill on Wednesday, so now it goes to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law. One of the most divisive aspects of the bill is a short-term extension of a surveillance program aimed at preventing terrorism and catching spies. Opponents of the extension wanted changes designed to boost privacy protections for Americans.

The post Big pay raise for troops in defense bill sent to Biden. Conservatives stymied on cultural issues first appeared on Federal News Network.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says passage of a six-month temporary spending bill would have widespread and devastating effects on the department and the military. He wrote in a letter Sunday to key members of Congress that passing a continuing resolution that caps spending at 2024 levels, rather than taking action on the proposed 2025 budget will hurt thousands of defense programs, and damage military recruiting just as it is beginning to recover after the COVID-19 pandemic. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has teed up a vote this week on a bill that would keep the federal government funded for six more months.

The post Pentagon chief says a six-month temporary budget bill will have devastating effects on the military first appeared on Federal News Network.

The Senate has given final approval to a bill enhancing health care and disability benefits for millions of veterans exposed to toxic burn pits while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The post Senate approves bill to aid vets exposed to toxic burn pits first appeared on Federal News Network.

Amazon is buying MGM, the studio behind James Bond, for €6.9 billion

OpenAI has nearly doubled what investors think it's worth—but there's a catch.

Dramatic remote sensing imagery reveals the large-scale impact of Canadian wildfires. Blazes also are raging in the United States and the Siberian Arctic.

Worldwide, over 10 billion birds are on the wing this fall; learn how you can help monitor and protect them

A proposal to automatically register applicants for California driver's licenses with the Selective Service System for a possible military draft was pulled by its author, Sen. Bob Archuleta (D-Pico Rivera), just before a scheduled hearing today in the state Assembly Transportation Committee. This was the last scheduled meeting of that committee before the deadline for consideration of bills in this year's legislative session, so the bill is effectively dead for the year.

Like similar laws in other states, California SB-1081 faced opposition from a coalition of peace, civil liberties, and immigrant rights organizations, on both policy and fiscal grounds. Pulling the bill before the hearing today was a face-saving way for Sen. Archuleta to avoid a vote by the committee not to advance his bill to the Assembly floor. This was at least the seventh time that similar proposals in California have been rejected, but the Selective Service System and its California state directors keep finding new sponsors to reintroduce them in the state legislature.

Meanwhile, however, an ill-considered proposal to try to automate draft registration introduced at the instigation of the Selective Service System by Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) remains under consideration as part of the House version of this year's National Defense [sic] Authorization Act (NDAA), along with a proposal to expand draft registration to include young women as well as young men in the Senate version of the NDAA.

There's a chance that both of these proposals for changes to Selective Service registration could be removed during back-room negotiations in the House-Senate conference committee on the NDAA later this year, after the elections. But we've seen this movie before. These bad ideas will be back again next year, regardless of which party wins which federal elections.

Preparation for a military draft, and reliance on the perceived availability of a fallback draft as the basis for planning of endless, unlimited, unpopular wars, won't stop until Congress repeals the Military Selective Service Act and ends draft registration entirely, either through a standalone bill like the Selective Service Repeal Act or through a provision in this or a future year's NDAA.

Location: Sciences Library Library- QE185.F68 2014

Location: Sciences Library Library- QE149.E37 no.9 1975

Location: Sciences Library Library- QE149.E37 no.9 1980

(The Center Square) – The state of Maryland is investing $20 million in taxpayer fudning into the Water Assistance Relief Program to support those residents with water bill debt that is directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Larry Hogan said.

Hospitals must promptly report to the Los Angeles County public health department each time they try to collect medical debt from patients, under an ordinance backed Tuesday by county supervisors.

Experts warn that a frenzy of data center construction could delay California's transition away from fossil fuels, raise electric bills and increase risk of blackouts

New amendments to the California Journalism Preservation Act aim to make it more like a similar law in Canada.

Legislation from State Sen. Scott Wiener would introduce standards for product safety testing and liability.

SB 1047 would require AI firms to share their safety plans with the attorney general upon request and face penalties if catastrophic events happen.

After clearing many hurdles in the state Legislature, Sen. Scott Wiener's bill to require developers to put safeguards around their advanced AI models is one step closer to becoming law.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday signed bills that offer actors more AI protections and address AI-generated false content in political ads.

If Gov. Newsom vetoes SB 1047, the forces of anti-regulation — AI companies — will have little incentive to work on alternatives.

Hollywood celebrities, including "Star Wars" star Mark Hamill, director J.J. Abrams and SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher sign a letter urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign AI safety bill SB 1047.

Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed AI safety bill SB-1047, which was opposed by tech companies including ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Facebook parent company Meta.

The governor said he seeks to balance his desire to preserve California's role as the vanguard of technology against his job to shield society from potential harm.

Spotify reported double-digit growth across monthly active users, subscribers, profits, and revenues for the quarter ending September 30, 2024.

The post Spotify Revenues Up 19 Percent to €3.99 Billion appeared first on Thurrott.com.

The 'Kinky Boots' star describes the cancellation of his hit television show as 'bittersweet' because he found starring on the groundbreaking series very healing for him.

The 'Blinding Lights' hitmaker leads the nominees for the upcoming Billboard Music Awards by grabbing a total of 16 nods including the coveted title of Top Artist.

In the music video of her new track, the 19-year-old seven-time Grammy winner is seen sitting alone on a mountain with a large snake wrapping itself around her body.

According to Dick Clark Productions, the 'Whiskey Glasses' singer will not be 'performing, presenting or accepting' any possible trophies at the 2021 music awards show.