Batteries Not Included
Why It Matters
Council on Foreign Relations
4.2 • 876 Ratings
🗓️ 16 February 2022
⏱️ 28 minutes
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| 0:00.0 | Lithium, a soft silver-gray metal is the third lightest element in the universe, |
| 0:08.4 | originally discovered in 1817 in a piece of volcanic stone. |
| 0:12.8 | We're standing out some lithium now, right? |
| 0:14.8 | It's there. |
| 0:15.6 | You just can't really tell it on the surface. |
| 0:17.6 | Beneath the desert lies a treasure, |
| 0:20.0 | the white gold, better known as lithium. |
| 0:23.0 | Lithium, atomic number three on the periodic table. |
| 0:27.0 | It's not one of the more famous elements like gold, |
| 0:30.0 | but behind the scenes as countries compete to get ahead in the global energy |
| 0:35.1 | transition, Lithium has become one of the world's most valuable commodities. |
| 0:39.5 | Why? Well, it's an essential ingredient in lithium ion batteries. |
| 0:45.0 | Not glamorous, sure, but without those batteries, there's no way to power an electric car, |
| 0:51.0 | or store energy from wind and solar. |
| 0:55.0 | As countries transition to a green future, |
| 0:57.6 | demand for lithium is exploding, |
| 1:00.4 | and supply just can't keep up. |
| 1:02.4 | The world is going to need a lot more of it. |
| 1:05.0 | And without it, the fight against climate change |
| 1:08.0 | could come to a grinding halt. |
| 1:10.0 | I'm Gabriel Sierra, and this is why it matters. Today, lithium and the future of energy. You know, I don't personally spend a lot of time thinking about various metals. |
| 1:30.4 | So why should lithium matter to me or to any of us? |
... |
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