Catalyst with Shayle Kann Latitude Media

This week, we have something a little different: a news quiz. 
We recently took the stage with four investors at the Prelude Climate Summit — armed with a bell, a buzzer, and four different categories of questions. We tested two teams of venture investors on their knowledge of the most recent industry news.
Shayle Kann and Cassie Bowe, partners at venture firm Energy Impact Partners, are team High Voltage. 
Dr. Carley Anderson, principal at venture firm Prelude Ventures, and Matt Eggers, Prelude’s manager director, are team Shayle Gassed. (Prelude led fundraising for Latitude Media.)
Stephen Lacey, executive editor of this show and host of The Carbon Copy, quizzes the teams on the latest in climate tech news.
Which team will come out on top?
Catalyst is supported by Origami Solar. Join Latitude Media’s Stephen Lacey and Origami’s CEO Gregg Patterson for a live Frontier Forum on May 30th at 1 pm Eastern to discuss Origami’s new research on how recycled steel can help reinvigorate the U.S. solar industry. Register for free on Latitude’s events page.

The IPCC says that we likely need to capture hundreds of gigatons of CO2 if we want to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. So what are we going to do with all that carbon?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Julio Friedmann, chief scientist at Carbon Direct. Julio says we will store the vast majority of that CO2. But the markets for using CO2 in things like concrete, fizzy water, and chemicals will play an important role in developing the carbon management economy. Shayle and Julio cover topics like:

The roughly 50 carbon capture facilities operating today and how much carbon they capture

Why we should recycle carbon at all when we could just store it 

Current uses for CO2, like fizzy water, enhanced oil recovery, and concrete

Emerging chemical uses, like jet fuel, ethanol, urea, and methanol

Substituting glass and metal with products that use recycled carbon, like polycarbonate and carbon fiber

The “over the horizon” stuff, like making space elevators from graphene

Solving the challenge of local opposition to carbon infrastructure

Who will pay the green premium for products made with recycled carbon

 
Recommended Resources:
Center on Global Energy Policy: Opportunities and Limits of CO2 Recycling in a Circular Carbon Economy: Techno-economics, Critical Infrastructure Needs, and Policy Priorities
Canary Media: US Steel plant in Indiana to host a $150M carbon capture experiment
NBC: Biden admin seeks to jumpstart carbon recycling with $100 million in grants

Are growing concerns over AI’s power demand justified? Join us for our upcoming Transition-AI event featuring three experts with a range of views on how to address the energy needs of hyperscale computing, driven by artificial intelligence. Don’t miss this live, virtual event on May 8.
Catalyst is supported by Origami Solar. Join Latitude Media’s Stephen Lacey and Origami’s CEO Gregg Patterson for a live Frontier Forum on May 30th at 1 pm Eastern to discuss Origami’s new research on how recycled steel can help reinvigorate the U.S. solar industry. Register for free on Latitude’s events page.

Rare earth elements (REEs) are essential ingredients in electric vehicles, wind turbines, and many electronics. As with most critical minerals, China controls the vast majority of the REE supply chain. And so when it banned the export of REE processing technology last December, it raised concerns about supply.
So what will it take to secure the supply of REEs? 
In this episode, Shayle talks to Ahmad Ghahreman, CEO and cofounder of Cyclic Materials, a rare earth elements recycling company. (Energy Impact Partners, where Shayle is a partner, invests in Cyclic.) They cover topics like:

The five high-value REEs used in the permanent magnets inside EVs, wind turbines, and other electronics

The many steps in the supply chain, from extraction to end-of-life

Building magnets without REEs

Increasing production outside of China

The role of recycling

Why Ahmad is optimistic about developing a supply chain in North America


Recommended Resources:
MIT Technology Review: The race to produce rare earth elements
IEEE Spectrum: Who Will Free EV Motors from the Rare Earth Monopoly?
Are growing concerns over AI’s power demand justified? Join us for our upcoming Transition-AI event featuring three experts with a range of views on how to address the energy needs of hyperscale computing, driven by artificial intelligence. Don’t miss this live, virtual event on May 8.

A little-known U.S. law called the Jones Act shapes climate tech in weird ways — like hindering offshore wind deployment and pushing up energy prices.
The law, part of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, requires all cargo shipped between U.S. ports to be carried by ships that meet strict standards. Those ships must be built in American shipyards, owned by an American company, registered in the U.S., and crewed by a majority American crew. As a result, building cargo ships in the U.S., and operating them between U.S. ports, is way more expensive than building and operating ships in other countries — and relatively few U.S. ships get built.
So what are the impacts on climate tech?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Colin Grabow, research fellow at the Cato Institute's Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies. They cover topics like:

How the Jones Act increases the money and time required to deploy offshore wind turbines

Why it costs less to ship U.S. oil and gas abroad than to domestic markets

How it pushes domestic shipping to rely on trucks and trains instead of ships

The history of the act and potential ways it could change


Recommended Resources:


WIRED: The US Has Big Plans for Wind Energy—but an Obscure 1920s Law Is Getting in the Way


Cato Institute: Jones Act Leaves New England Vulnerable to Wintertime Calamity


Cato Institute: Environmental Costs of the Jones Act


Are growing concerns over AI’s power demand justified? Join us for our upcoming Transition-AI event featuring three experts with a range of views on how to address the energy needs of hyperscale computing, driven by artificial intelligence. Don’t miss this live, virtual event on May 8.

This week we’re bringing you a deep dive into battery supply chains — the season premier of The Big Switch, a show that Latitude Media makes in partnership with Columbia University’s SIPA Center on Global Energy Policy.
Across this five-episode documentary series, hosted by the acclaimed energy scholar Dr. Melissa Lott, we examine every step of the sprawling global supply chains behind lithium-ion batteries.
In this first episode, we break apart one of the battery cells that was in the original Tesla Roadster. Then we explore how critical minerals, like copper, lithium, and nickel, are becoming a major force in global geopolitics, especially involving China, which dominates battery supply chains.
The supply chain behind all those batteries could be worth nearly half a trillion dollars by 2030. Whoever controls that supply chain has enormous power — figuratively and literally. 
In this episode, we explore the stakes of the battery-based transition and ask whether critical minerals will look anything like oil.
To listen to the full five-part series, including episodes on mining, manufacturing and more, subscribe to The Big Switch on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The lithium-ion battery business is taking off, and the battery recycling business is close behind. Financiers are pouring over a billion dollars into recycling companies like Redwood Materials, Ascend Elements, and Li-Cycle. But success depends on a steady supply of used batteries, and with batteries lasting longer than expected — and the battery market still in its infancy — there just aren’t enough dying batteries to go around. 
As a result, a significant portion of recyclers’ feedstock is coming from manufacturer scrap, i.e. the waste that companies like SK On and Panasonic don’t turn into cells at the factory. But these battery makers are incentivized to minimize waste, which raises big questions about whether recyclers will be able to get enough used batteries to sustainably feed their operations.
So which technologies and business models will succeed in this chapter of the battery industry?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Dan Steingart, chair of the earth and environmental engineering department at Columbia University. (Steingart’s lab gets funding from battery manufacturer Northvolt.) Shayle and Dan cover topics like:

The steps in nickel-manganese-cobalt battery recycling and what Dan calls “zombie lithium”

The differences between pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy

Dan’s bet on solvent extraction as an under-appreciated technology

Redwood Materials’ focus on winning the feedstock battle

Ascend Elements’ hydro-to-cathode technology

Li-Cycle’s focus on making inputs for cathode manufacturers

How these recyclers want to compete downstream by producing cathode precursor and cathode material 

Why Dan is surprisingly bearish on direct recycling for lithium-iron-phosphate

Recommended Resources:
Nature Sustainability: Examining different recycling processes for lithium-ion batteries
Latitude Media: What’s so hard about building a circular battery economy?
Are growing concerns over AI’s power demand justified? Join us for our upcoming Transition-AI event featuring three experts with a range of views on how to address the energy needs of hyperscale computing, driven by artificial intelligence. Don’t miss this live, virtual event on May 8.