What are you referring to when you say “salt batteries”?

This is more accurate than you would think. I’ve seen people synthesize a new inorganic compound, and is then more or less forced by supervisors to test it as an intercalation host for Li- or Na-ion batteries without really having thought through whether that makes sense at all.

Li is small, and as long as there is room for it (sites for it to sit when intercalated and paths to diffuse through the material), and there is some species that can accommodate the additional charge (as one Li+ is introduced into the material, there needs to be a charge compensation to maintain charge neutrality - typically this is a transition metal cation that is reduced from a higher oxidation state to a lower one). In that sense a lot of materials could serve as hosts, and depending on the intercalation potential, it could be used as a cathode (LiCoO2 for instance, where the intercalation potential vs. Li/Li+ is so high that it makes for a good cathode) or an anode (LTO for instance, where the intercalation potential vs. Li/Li+ is so low that it rather makes sense to pair it with a high potential cathode, and instead make for a more niche application where things such as safety is more coveted). That said, only three structure types have been widely used commercially as intercalation hosts for Li-ion batteries: layered rocksalt types (like LiCoO2 and its deriviates, NMC and NCA), spinels (LiMn2O4 or LTO) or olivines (LiFePO4, or LFP).

Li-S is not someone randomly mixing Li with some other elements though, it has been researched for a long time and is considered one of several “holy grails”

In this case, C refers to the current rate, not the unit Coulomb. It is a standard way of giving the current rate in battery research, and 1C is defined, as oldfart says, as the current rate required to charge that particular battery fully (to its nominal capacity) in one hour. 2C is twice this, so it is charged in half an hour, and C/2 is half this, so it is charged in two hours.

It is a convenient way of giving the current rate, because it allows a more application focused comparison (i.e. my EV battery or phone battery should be able to charge fully in one hour), but it hides the actual capacity of the battery (you have no way of knowing, without additional information, if the cell has a small or a large capacity).

ETA: The last point here is what deranger and AwesomeLowlander is getting at. You can have a very small battery with very little active material, and charge that at 10C and achieve reversible cycling for many, many cycles, and it is meaningless if it cannot be scaled to a larger cell (unless we are only considering microbatteries for example). Usually, results at a small scale is not directly transferable to larger scale, and you encounter all kinds of challenges as you scale up.

Awesome! If you’d like any suggestions for story ideas, let me know what other stories and general themes you like and I’d be happy to see if anything pops to mind.

Cheers! For now, what listed above is what I am most interested in reading up on :)

Also: can I give you a piece of writing advice related to your post above?

Sure, go ahead!

The main geopolitical change is that oil is not going to be anymore a king-maker. I would expect a second Arab Spring (though the Arab world is more than just the Arabian peninsula) with more success. I would expect a lower influence of Russia as well.

Yes, the decline in power of the petrostates would need to be handled well, and would definitely be important in figuring out how the overall landscape looks.

There are two possible flavors of future and really, both are credible, it depends on the stories you want to tell: more integration in supra-national entities or more independent states.

I think perhaps both could work at the same time (which I upon rereading see that you mentioned further down!)? More autonomy to regional entities within countries, but more collaboration on larger issues inside unions such as EU and AU (it would be difficult to avoid centralized power being forced down on local communities though). Maybe instead of seeing the EU moving towards a federal state, maybe we see the US moving towards something like the EU? There are several nations in Europe that would only be mid-sized states in the US, so I always found comparing single European countries to the US makes less sense than comparing the US and EU directly.

Also, do not forget the UN. It could consolidate in a form of government. It already has a de facto minister of trade (WTO), of labor (ILO), of health (WHO), of education (UNESCO). It is a slow process but solving the climate crisis could have given it the political credit it is currently lacking.

Interesting, I never thought of these bodies in that light before. I think the source of the lack of political credit is largely due to the ineffectiveness of the Security Council and the veto vote. I think a big change to this would be paramount for UN to work as some kind of “world government”. And there is a fine line between such an organization being a force for good or a force for evil.

I’ve been doing a worldbuilding exercise for awhile, where I photobash together an image of a solarpunk scene and write some commentary about it. Maybe it’ll help? https://jacobcoffinwrites.wordpress.com/postcards-from-a-solarpunk-future/

Cool, I’m bookmarking this! You seem to have put a lot of thought into this, so it will definitely be an interesting read.

I tend to write with the expectation that things will get worse before they get better. I have a couple reasons for this: 1, I think there are likely some hard times ahead and I want the folks there to have optimistic fiction that makes concrete suggestions for improving things. 2, it’s a useful way to make changes in the setting.

Yeah, I anticipate that this will be the case for me as well. I find it unlikely that we all wake up tomorrow and agree to do everything differently. Too much is at stake for too many people who are well off today. So something big needs to happen that turns a lot of things upside down. And as you say, it is useful as a literary tool: rebuilding from a destroyed state gives a lot of freedom when the new is to be defined, as inertia is taken out of the picture. Not that I don’t hope for the former being possible still…

I tend to be a bit more concerned with day to day life, but I’ve been doing a fair bit of research, so if you find yourself looking for ideas on what a solarpunk apartment building, city street, rural homestead, or other location might look like, feel free to reach out, I’ve got tons of ideas.

The story I have in mind is really something that could be set in a lot of different settings. It is not something that occurs because of the Solarpunk world, but merely inside it. I have a fairly clear picture of what things look like, but would always be interested to see what others have imagined. As I said, I’ve bookmarked your page, so I will make sure to reach out when the details will be chiseled out. I imagine the research for the transition from here to then will take up much time before then.

Thank you, I was looking for this. Helium has important applications in science and medicine, and we cannot afford to use such large quantities for air travel. I’d much rather see development of modern sail ships, possibly in combination with fuel cells.

Wow, this is really cool - thanks for sharing! I’ll take a closer look at this, I am loving the idea. I have just recently started with some traditional TTRPG (DnD), so this is really good timing in that sense as well :)

Nice, thank you! I’ve only read non-fiction by Doctorow so far (Chokepoint Capitalism and The Internet Con) - I think many of the things he advocates for are definitely part of a Solarpunk future, so I imagine his fictional works would be worth a read in that regard. I’ll add it to my reading list, and I’ll make sure to get the humble bundle that I recently saw advertised!

Until your system does anything useful with third party votes or couch-sitting, you go out and vote every time for whatever does the least damage to democracy. But don’t disengage from the political world after the election. Between elections, you work to change the system. Find groups that tries to do this and volunteer. If you really care about it, you will need to dedicate your time to the cause, even though it might seem hopeless and may very well be.

I understand your situation sucks and you are tempted to say “Fuck the status quo” and desperately do something different in hopes that something will somehow change. But you know who do go out and vote, every fucking time? The racist assholes who would love to see Trump and his fascists cronies in power. And if that happens, it is game over. You will never get any chance to change anything, except from after a big traumatic event such as a big war (“civil” or otherwise).