Tag: Industry Sector

nato: US Senate backs NATO bid of Finland, Sweden in rebuke

US Senators have delivered near-unanimous bipartisan approval to NATO membership for Finland and Sweden, calling expansion of the Western defensive bloc a “slam-dunk” for US national security and a day of reckoning for Russian President Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine. Wednesday’s 95-1 vote – for the candidacy of two Western European nations that, until Russia’s war against Ukraine, had long avoided military alliances – took a crucial step toward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its 73-year-old pact of mutual defense among the United States and democratic allies in Europe.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer invited ambassadors of the two nations to the chamber gallery to witness the vote.

President Joe Biden, who has been the principal player rallying global economic and material support for Ukraine, has sought quick entry for the two previously non-militarily aligned northern European nations.

Approval from all member nations – currently, 30 – is required.

The candidacies of the two prosperous Northern European nations have won ratification from more than half of the NATO member nations in the roughly three months since the two applied.

It’s a purposely rapid pace meant to send a message to Russia over its six-month-old

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Industry Accounting
by Norma August 4, 2022

lithium ion batteries: Low-cost, sustainable alternative to

Calcium ions could be used as a greener, more efficient, and less expensive energy storage alternative to lithium-ions in batteries because of its abundance and low cost, according to a study. The researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the US noted that long-term use of lithium-ion batteries comes with issues such as scarcity, high prices, and safety concerns.

“The vast majority of rechargeable battery products are based on lithium-ion technology, which is the gold standard in terms of performance,” said Nikhil Koratkar, a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

“However, the Achilles’ heel for lithium-ion technology is cost. Lithium is a limited resource on the planet, and its price has increased drastically in recent years,” said Koratkar, corresponding author of the study published recently in the journal PNAS.

The researchers are working on an inexpensive, abundant, safe, and sustainable battery chemistry that uses calcium ions in an aqueous, water-based electrolyte.

While the larger size and higher charge density of calcium ions relative to lithium impairs diffusion kinetics and cyclic stability, Koratkar and his team offer oxide structures containing big open spaces as a prospective solution.

In the study, the researchers demonstrated an aqueous calcium-ion battery using molybdenum vanadium oxide (MoVO) as

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Industry
by Norma August 4, 2022