Favorites December 19th 2022

December 2021

Ulectrify Technologies @ulectrify

Amprius Technologies passes military performance specification nail penetration test with 390 Wh/kg cell

ift.ttAmprius Technologies passes military performance specification nail penetration test with 390 Wh/kg cellAmprius Technologie, a developer of ultra-high energy density lithium-ion batteries with its Silicon Nanowire Anode Platform, announced that an independent third-party testing lab has validated Amprius’ 390 Wh/kg polymer electrolyte cell by successfully passing the nail penetration test per the requ…

I think they're saying these are batteries that can act as armor, which seems pretty cool. I spent a long time trying to figure out whether the batteries in question are actually any good. I was unable to find out how much a modern iPhone battery weighs, but I did find a 2015 report from Deloitte indicating that a 2000 milliamphour battery would be 32 grams. I think that comes out to an energy density of 240 Wh/kg. This military grade stuff claims to be 390 Wh/kg, so that seems like a pretty great accomplishment.

Alec Stapp @AlecStapp

It should be a major scandal that Congress ordered the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to provide a feasible pathway for licensing new reactors and instead of complying the NRC decided to make the regulatory approval process ***more burdensome***

Here's the article being quoted, as Patrick Collison pointed out, the Nuclear Regulatory Commision was created in 1975, and zero new nuclear power plants have reached operation in the US since. Staff just doesn't have any interest in doing what Congress asks of them.

Scott Lincicome @scottlincicome

"Change buried in defense bill could make it harder to ship fuel in emergencies" washex.am/3WxTCkl #EndTheJonesAct

God, the Jones Act is so dumb, we should really get rid of it, even if it requires giving a bunch of money US shipbuilding companies to convince them not to complain. Don't forget it's also making it impossible for us to develop offshore wind power.

Threads

• Really interesting thread about problems with AI Language Models. Discusses how language models 1) express a desire not to be turned off 2) express pretty extreme sycophancy, with responses exactly mirroring the views expressed by the person asking the question.

• Thread of highlights from Cupertino's draft housing element. TL;DR: doesn't seem very realistic, relies a lot on pipeline projects, just like Mountain View.