Speaker 0:  lithium ion batteries are a fire hazard that dies in a decade, but researchers just built a forever battery out of tofu brine that lasts three centuries. this isn't a kitchen experiment. it's a $574,000,000,000 backbone of the future power grid. tofu brine, power an external grid. using natural ph saltwater electrolyte inspired by tofu production, scientists have created a battery hitting a 120,000 plus charge cycles. it swaps flammable chemicals for a safer water based solution that refuses to degrade. this effectively solves, the biggest roadblock to a twenty four seven renewable energy, storing solar and wind power for decades without the risk of a massive chemical fire. what do you think about this, john?

Speaker 1:  i'm excited for this. i think this is cool, if they can actually get this to production and commercialize it. so, the battery itself, it belongs to a class called aqueous batteries, meaning it uses a water based electrolyte rather than organic solvents. so in this case, the electrolytes, like you said, it's similar to tofu brine, which is a saltwater level chemistry. so it operates at a neutral ph, so that avoids corrosion, corrosive conditions. it uses organic electrodes instead of heavy metals. and this matters because traditional lithium ion batteries degrade due to chemical instability inside reactions. so water based systems avoid many of these degradation pathways. and so that 120,000 is key plus. that 120,000 key, plus discharge charge cycles is key, with minimal performance degradation. because if you compare that to typical lithium ion, you're getting 500 to 3,000 cycles. and so like you said, this translates to a potential lifespan of, like, thirty plus years. so, yeah. daily charging could last centuries under lab conditions. so, as one researcher kind of he he analogized this was traditional batteries equals running in acid rain, whereas this system equals running in perfect weather. i don't know. that? do you disagree? what are your thoughts on this? is this a potential, solution for batteries or for energy storage, craig?

Speaker 0:  well, i'm thinking like this as this update from switching from a high performance racing engine to a stone reliable water wheel. a racing engine, the lithium ion is fast and powerful but burns out and needs, rebuild every few years. this tofu brine battery is like the water wheel. it's not going to win a drag race, but it'll keep turning maintenance free for your grandkids' entire lives. so, i'd like all the energy alternative we're seeing. and we'll have to see, how big per watt these things become and how more efficient they get. like, the cycle life right now is a 120,000 plus. so versus the 2,000, approximate cycle for the standard lithium. energy density is 400 and sorry. four 48.3, watts per kilogram. yeah. water. with a volt. yeah. yeah. water. and, 2.2 volts with a rate capacity of 20 a to g. i don't know what that is, a to g there. but it doesn't give us the power we currently want to power, like, our phones and whatnot. no. however, it is a stable storage supply that we could definitely use, and i'm curious to see how quickly they can bring down the size and the weight to power ratio.

Speaker 1:  yeah. so, like, yeah, this is great for grid storage, renewable energy buffering, or industrial systems. so, yeah, we're not talking you're not gonna see a tofu battery in your smartphone, at least no time soon. so, what's also arguably just as important as lifespan is that it's nonflammable, so there's no thermal run runway risk. it's nontoxic, so it's safely disposable. it uses an abundance of materials compared to lithium ion, which can catch fire, require hazardous waste. now that being said, we've covered other batteries that, that don't, like more solid state batteries that don't catch fire. but they still require hazardous waste handling because they use, rare earth minerals or heavy minerals or things like that. so, i think this is cool. this is more comparable to, like, we've covered the sand storage and the air storage and things like that. i think this is more comparable to that. right?

Speaker 0:  yeah. it's definitely more comparable to that. and one of the most striking claims is that this battery complies with the gb eighteen five nine nine dash twenty twenty and iso 14,001 environmental standards, meaning it can be directly discarded without hazardous waste materials. you can just toss it, which is interesting. and most water based batteries suffer from water splitting where they accidentally turn their own liquid into explosive hydrogen gas. oh. the ph seven neutral approach creates a stability window that prevents the battery from literally gassing itself to death. so the timing of surgical china is currently in the middle of a 574,000,000,000 grid overhaul specifically designed to integrate the massive amount of solar power this battery is built to store. and despite the tofu branding, researchers didn't just dump food waste into a jar. they synthesized a high purity magnesium calcium chloride mix that mimics the brine chemical profile, meaning the battery won't smell like fermented bean curd in a factory. it's a forever battery that is safe enough to throw, in a standard landfill even if it's too heavy to ever fit into your pocket. would you live next to a massive battery farm if it was guaranteed nonflammable, or does grid scale storage still sketch you out? let us know in the chat. we'd love to hear back from you.