How a few geothermal plants could solve America's lithium su

[Suff]

Once they start looking, they find the stuff everywhere. It is not rare.

Geothermal power plants use heat from the Earth to generate a constant supply of steam to run turbines that produce electricity. The plants operate by bringing up a complex saline solution located far underground, where it absorbs heat and is enriched with minerals such as lithium, manganese, zinc, potassium and boron.

Geothermal brines are the concentrated liquid left over after heat and steam are extracted at a geothermal plant. In the Salton Sea plants, these brines contain high concentrations - about 30% - of dissolved solids.

If test projects now underway prove that battery-grade lithium can be extracted from these brines cost effectively, 11 existing geothermal plants along the Salton Sea alone could have the potential to produce enough lithium metal to provide about 10 times the current U.S. demand.

Oh and it's clean and a by-product of clean energy.

[cromwell]

I have no doubt that the massed ranks of middle class swampies would find something to object about re geothermal power.
If fracking is bad, this will be worse, to them.

[Suff]

Yep but these already exist and the brine already has to be treated and disposed of.

In this case they remove the Lithium for batteries before disposing of it.

Hard to complain that your already existing geothermal plants which already provide clean energy are going to have a by-product which allows the creation of clean vehicles which could run on the energy provided by the geothermal plants...

You'd be nuts right? Or an extremist environ"mentalist". Like the German Nabu and Grune lige who hate car factories which bring clean electric vehicles, use significant amounts of recycled water and are going to host a huge solar farm.

Bad right? Totally dire.