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Iran discovers world’s second largest lithium reserve

thecradle.co

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Re: Iran discovers world’s second largest lithium reserve

#201

Post by geysersam »

ag315 wrote: post #82
redeeman wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Infinite power from the sky that’s cheaper than fossil fuels but it isnt though, if it was, it would be happening all over, without massive subsidies and strongarming from government.

Correct--while the sun sends an enormous amount of free energy our way, it's maddeningly diffuse and requires enormous investments of energy and materials to capture it in a usable and reliable form. The Wynn in Vegas has a 160 acre solar farm in some of the sunniest land in the country and it provides...almost enough energy to power a single large hotel. None of this is to say that solar power is bad, just that we s…

That must be a seriously energy hungry hotel!

160 acres are 1x1.6 kilometers. That should give about 150 MW during the day.

(Same as power consumption of 50 000 aircons.)

Re: Iran discovers world’s second largest lithium reserve

#202

Post by ag315 »

epistasis wrote: post #163
ArnoVW wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A typical nuclear station genrates 1 Gw. You'd need 1000000 square meters (=1000 sq km) to generate the same thing. Oh and we can only capture 20-30 % of the energy of the total light. We're going to need solar power, and fossile fuel is madness. But to deny that solar power is not 'dense' seems irrational.

Dense is a subjective term, and solar is without a doubt a dense enough energy source. Compare the amount of land needed to power the US with solar to the amount we use to brew a small amount of ethanol as a minor energy sourced. We can completely power the US with a fraction of the land that we currently use as a subsidy for corn farmers, who grow more corn than we can eat.

While I'm less optimistic than you on solar power, you're absolutely right about ethanol, which is easily one of the worst and most inefficient power sources we could have possibly chosen to invest in. It's a significant indictment of the US political system that so much money was shoveled into it.

Re: Iran discovers world’s second largest lithium reserve

#203

Post by Mountain_Skies »

steveBK123 wrote: post #34

A strong argument for the existence of a diety is hilarious-if-true outcomes like the Ayatollah getting to have both oil & lithium to remain fully hedged through the EV transition. Too improbable for a fictional movie, but here we are. Life, as always, is stranger than fiction.

Wonder what the deity was busy doing when the US and UK overthrew the democratically elected government of Iran to install a puppet regime that was so hated, that the current one was welcomed in?

Re: Iran discovers world’s second largest lithium reserve

#204

Post by ag315 »

causi wrote: post #86
ag315 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct--while the sun sends an enormous amount of free energy our way, it's maddeningly diffuse and requires enormous investments of energy and materials to capture it in a usable and reliable form. The Wynn in Vegas has a 160 acre solar farm in some of the sunniest land in the country and it provides...almost enough energy to power a single large hotel. None of this is to say that solar power is bad, just that we s…

1,370 watts per square meter isn't what I'd call diffuse. We're just not good at harvesting it.

1370/sq km is at the atmospheric level. The amount that actually reaches the surface is significantly less.

Re: Iran discovers world’s second largest lithium reserve

#205

Post by Mountain_Skies »

bombcar wrote: post #193
jonnycomputer wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hah ha. but to be fair, calling Iran a desert is like calling the United States a desert. https://www.knowiran.com/iran-landscape

Huge vast swaths of Australia and the United States are effectively deserts, but they don't "define" the country. It mainly comes down to what pictures you see in the news when something happens, and Iranian cities look "deserty".

There's also a tendency in the US to conflate Iran with Arab countries.

Re: Iran discovers world’s second largest lithium reserve

#206

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

bombcar wrote: post #193
jonnycomputer wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hah ha. but to be fair, calling Iran a desert is like calling the United States a desert. https://www.knowiran.com/iran-landscape

Huge vast swaths of Australia and the United States are effectively deserts, but they don't "define" the country. It mainly comes down to what pictures you see in the news when something happens, and Iranian cities look "deserty".

I most definitely would "define" Australia more by it's desert landscape than I would Iran.

Re: Iran discovers world’s second largest lithium reserve

#208

Post by recuter »

Vt71fcAqt7 wrote: post #200
recuter wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Afghanistan has trillions in mineral wealth. And yet you still have to extract it somehow and sell it. Unlikely that happens any time soon if ever.

Apparently chinese are try to extract it.[0] They also just got this oil deal recently.[1] I think the mineral extracting is actually good, regardless of who does it. It's increasing total GDP in any event. [0] https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-pursues-afghanistans-mine... [1] https://thegeopolitics.com/chinas-540-million-energy-deal-wi...

Video essay on it by Caspian Report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9pOQioOEGg

I think you are being rather naive that the Chinese won't simply bribe the right people and any benefit from the extraction actually reaches the Afghan people or increases their GDP in any meaningful way.

They can try anyhow, who knows how well that will go. Might be their turn to get stuck in a quagmire over there.

Re: Iran discovers world’s second largest lithium reserve

#210

Post by logicalmonster »

Adraghast wrote: post #139
mxxc wrote: post #129

very few people bringing up that thecradle is a pro-mullahs, pro-russia and pro-hezbollah outlet disguised as a normal geopolitics website? :)

As opposed to an anti-mullahs, anti-Russia, and anti-Hezbollah outlet that would be a normal geopolitics website?

I think it's fair to point out that every news source has their own biases, especially normal geopolitics websites.
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