Welcome to Grid Brief! Here’s what we’re looking at today: how Chile may be a future leader in cobalt production, an MIT startup launches affordable energy-efficient windows, and industry group projects nuclear power growth.

The Future of the U.S. Cobalt Supply Chain Could be in Chile

From laptops and cell phones to oil purification, cobalt is literally elemental to powering modern society. Despite the ways that cobalt has made life easier and more efficient, its supply chain is riddled with human rights abuses and environmental degradation, which is something that the Chilean Cobalt Corp. (C3) is hoping to solve.

The vast majority of cobalt is sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which houses 48 percent of the world’s cobalt reserves and 68 percent of its production. Underscoring the DRC’s dominance is not only its high quantity of cobalt but its high quality of the metal. While the global average of mineral ores contains .6 to .8 percent of cobalt, DRC’s ores yield concentrations of 3 percent.

Despite its dominance, the DRC owns very little of this cobalt mining and processing. An estimated 80 percent of the DRC’s reserves are owned by Chinese firms, which are notorious for implementing harsh working conditions, utilizing child labor, and destroying local ecosystems. Indeed, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre has recorded 102 violations of human rights and environmental laws at 39 Chinese mines in 18 countries between January 2021 and December 2022. Tesla has moved away from cobalt batteries and Apple has set goals to only use recycled cobalt because of these human rights abuses.

This is where C3 comes in. The company is turning to Chile’s historic San Juan cobalt district to establish a sustainable and ethical supply of the metal while disrupting China’s monopoly.

After receiving a $317 million letter of interest from the US EXIM Bank in June, the company recently signed an agreement with Glencore, one of the world’s largest commodity companies, and U.S. Strategic Metals (USSM) to explore American downstream processing of cobalt and copper intermediate products at USSM’s facility in Missouri.

With cobalt demand expected to double by 2030, establishing a domestic or friendly supply of the metal will lower costs for American consumers and reduce human rights abuses internationally.

MIT Startup Advances Affordable Energy-Efficient Window

Building use is responsible for 36 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, and today’s windows are a major contributor to energy inefficiency in buildings. AeroShield, a startup spun out of MIT, is looking to address this issue with a technology that promises to reduce building heat loss by up to 65 percent.

The company’s technology relies on aerogels, which are one of the lightest solid materials known to man. Aerogels were first invented by NASA in the 1930s and are made by combining a polymer with a solvent to form a gel. Scientists then remove the liquid of the gel and replace it with air to form a super porous, low-density material.

These unique features have allowed aerogels to be used as a source of insulation for space exploration and commercial purposes. However, because aerogels are not transparent, they have never been used in windows until now.

AeroShield has devised a way to make aerogels transparent by using smaller and more uniform silica particles. In doing so, the company has been able to use these materials to create affordable insulating windows.

In July Aeroshield a $5 million funding round to scale up production and grow its staff.

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Conversation Starters

• IAEA projects rapid global growth of nuclear power (Power Magazine)

  In a report published this week, the International Atomic Energy Agency said that it expects global nuclear capacity to rise to as much as 950 gigawatts of generation by 2050. The world currently has 371.5 GW of nuclear power capacity.

• GM, EVGo plan 400 EV charging stations (Utility Dive)

  General Motors Co. and electric vehicle charging provider EVgo will collaborate to deploy 400 DC-fast charging stations at locations in major metropolitan areas in the U.S. The first chargers are expected to open in 2025 in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New York and Texas.

• Meta closes mega purchase of carbon credits in South America (Reuters)

  Meta has purchased 3.9 million carbon credits from Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual's forestry arm through 2038. While the cost of the deal is unclear, some are estimating that it could be worth up to $16 million.

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