As inflation is surging, it is putting pressure on mortgage rates. The Federal Reserve is likely to keep raising rates this year with the goal of containing consumer prices. While the Fed doesn’t control mortgage rates, its policies have an ancillary effect. 

Think Solar

At times like this, homeowners have to use every tool in the toolbox, and solar installation is a vital one to contain/reduce monthly costs.  Buying a home that has a solar energy system, or having one installed upon purchase is a savvy financial move that also benefits the environment.

Home appraisers, who review property for mortgage companies, understand that that the installation of solar panels and solar batteries can increase a property’s market value. In fact, a Zillow study indicated that homes with solar panels sold for 4.1% more than those without.

“The sale premium varies substantially by market,” reports Zillow.  “In Riverside, Calif., for example, homes with solar-energy systems sold for 2.7% more than comparable homes without solar power—a markup of $9,926 for the median-valued home in the metro. In the greater New York City metro, solar-powered homes have a premium that is double that of Riverside. At 5.4%, that’s an extra $23,989 in value for the typical home in New York. In three other coastal metro areas—Los Angeles, San Francisco and Orlando, Fla.—homes with solar power can fetch a premium of around 4%.”

Getting a solar system installed is like creating your very own power plant. Homeowners make energy right on their own property instead of relying completely on the utility company to do it for them. While you can’t disconnect completely from the grid, homeowners have the ability to generate their own power every time the sun comes up.

For homeowners paying $70 or more on electricity bills each month, there are programs available that could permanently lower electric bills up to 75% with no upfront costs.

Smart Solar Financing

According to the U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency And Renewable Energy, the average cost of solar PV panels has dropped nearly 70%. Markets for solar energy is economically competitive with conventional energy sources in most states.

A solar system is either leased or purchased. Whether you buy a system or lease it, the use of solar energy will significantly decrease monthly energy costs and increase the value of the home.

Increase Purchasing Power

An energy-efficient mortgage or green mortgage allows borrowers to finance energy-efficient improvements under advantageous loan terms. A green mortgage offers added funds with the mortgage purchase or refinance that can be applied to energy-efficient home upgrades. To qualify, applicants must meet the standard mortgage requirements of credit and debt-to-income ratio and an energy consultant develops a home energy rating report to estimate potential energy savings.

Tapping into a green mortgage can increase purchasing power and allow home buyers to qualify for a larger mortgage. And, for those people buying a home that already is energy efficient, the monthly bills will be lower.

Other ways to increase purchasing power are reducing debt, reviewing credit scores to see where any improvements can be made, and stash as much money away as you can for the down payment and closing costs and eliminate the need for mortgage insurance.

Explore First-Time Home Buyer Programs

For those who are buying their very first home, there are a variety of homebuyer assistance programs available at the national and local level. On the national level, there are Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans that are insured by the Federal Housing Administration, a government agency that sets standards for the construction and financing of homes in the United States. With a FICO® credit score at least 580, home buyers are required to put down a 3.5% down payment vs. the 20% that is industry standard.

Home buyers should also investigate their state and city level options for first-time home buyers. In New York City, for example, “the HomeFirst Down Payment Assistance Program provides qualified homebuyers with up to $100,000 toward the down payment or closing costs on a 1-4 family home, a condominium, or a cooperative in one of the five boroughs of New York City.”

Set a Budget

Before starting the housing hunt in earnest, it is important to understand how much house is affordable.  Generally, keeping housing costs to 30% or less of after-tax income is the recommendation. Getting pre-approved for the mortgage is recommended so that the house-hunt can proceed with confidence.

Consider that while mortgage rates today are on the rise, they are still relatively low on historical standards. In 1981, according to Fannie Mae data, the annual average interest rate was 16.63%! There are many benefits that come along with home ownership including tax deductions, financial stability, a permanent home and sense of belonging in the local community. 

The post Why Home Buyers Should ‘Think Solar’ in Post-Pandemic Climate appeared first on Grit Daily News.

There are at least one-and-one half billion internal combustion engine-powered motor vehicles used solely for land transportation globally today. The equivalent of 100’s of millions more of such vehicles sail the oceans and fly in the skies.

Can all of this be replaced by vehicles powered by electric motors using on-board battery storage?

The “laws” of nature are logical and experimentally “proven” and reaffirmed by computational rules, not just by observations of behavior by selected groups of human beings. Laws of nature can be replaced with improved computation rules that give results more closely aligned with observed data; Einstein’s gravitational theory has replaced Newton’s for that reason.

The “rule” of supply and demand is not a law of nature; it is an action guideline that takes into account how much human beings will give up of their time, possessions, and promises of future actions (aka, money) in order to obtain a physical good or a service. It is NOT a law of nature, but rather an observation of the most common reaction of human beings to shortages of goods and services, which human nature deems important.

Human desire may create a demand for, but it does not create a supply of natural resources. Technology, the engineering of science, is necessary for obtaining supplies of natural resources, but it is not sufficient.

The availability of natural resources for use by the human race is a function of:

1. The logistical accessibility of deposits of those resources, i.e., can they be reached by road (or rail), or ship,
2. Are they of sufficient grade (concentration) so that available mechanical and chemical engineering technologies can SELECTIVELY extract the minerals containing them and concentrate them ECONOMICALLY enough to be AFFORDABLE for intended use,
3. Is there a downstream processing regime (group pf technologies) that can economically transform the mineral concentrates produced by mining into forms necessary for mass production of the resource into an end user product or necessary part of a product?
4. Is the above regime ECONOMICAL or AFFORDABLE (e.g., the transformation of U3O8 into enriched U-235, which is only necessary if you wish to build nuclear reactors or weapons, and which would never have been affordable other than through the driver of war allowing massive “investment” in the processing regime, and, most important of all
5. The recognition that there is a grade limit below which the resource is not available to contemporary human economically deployed technology.

ALL of the deposits of natural resources, upon which human life and leisure depend, were laid over hundreds of millions and billions of years ago. Those resources are not organic; they do not grow back in mines.

The easiest deposits to work are those of the highest grade of the desired element which also have the least “contaminants” of other related elements that must be removed to purify the desired resource into a form useful to mankind.

The only factor to be considered when planning for mass producing a consumer good that requires a specific natural resource is the cost of that resource in the form necessary for the intended use. There must be a strong indication that the capital deployed to recover and process the natural resource will be repaid by the sales of the product into the general or, in the case of the military, specific, market. Capital must be repaid through wealth creation. It cannot just be wasted in a rational society, because if it is, it will eventually run out.

Note well that subsides by government are merely a way of socializing waste of capital (aka in government as “investment”). Note also that American elites always benefit from the subsidies through the ownership of the perpetually non-going concerns the losses from which are covered by the subsidies.

There is no scheme in the green universe to repay the capital; it’s use is intended to impoverish the mass of mankind to enhance and preserve a static world (fantasy) to be enjoyed only by elites.

There is NOT sufficient lithium accessible or available, economically, to replace more than a fraction of today’s transportation fleet, much less tomorrows. Deglobalization is a necessary concomitant of less availability of cheap fossil fuels. This is already happening in the guise of protecting “democracy’ from the evil scheming of those Chinese leaders who recognized the West’s propensity for cultural suicide long ago and can think of nothing better than granting the green wishes. China now has all the lithium it needs for its domestic use of reducing urban pollution. And China uses its monopoly of the necessary critical materials to dominate the global solar panel manufacturing and wind turbine industries.

Only those transportation vehicle makers who continue to make, improve, and market internal combustion engines (ICE’s) will survive the cull as electric vehicles (EV’s) get increasingly expensive and the infrastructure to support their use with power and service fails to appear. The price for lithium itself is already too high to sustain the mass production of affordable EVs. I predict that lithium prices will come down, but, of course, that will extinguish unsubsidized low-grade production, so that an ICE/EV equilibrium production will be reached, in this decade. Oil prices will also decline as production resumes, so that the energy economy recovers it normal path.

The law of supply and demand can be applied to money, but not to wealth or value. Their creation is limited by the supply of resources, productivity, and innovation.

The post Lithium, Electric Vehicles, and the Law of Resource Availability appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Copper is very much in demand now due its integral role in everything from key infrastructure to electric vehicle (EV) parts to renewable energy. As the world moves forward in the transition to clean energy, the spotlight grows on copper mining companies. The market is ripe with many inviting investing opportunities, from multinational mining conglomerates that mine for copper as well as other metals, such as BHP Group (NYSE: BHP), Vale (NYSE: VALE) and Rio Tinto Group (NYSE: RIO) or copper producer specialists such as Southern Copper Corp. (NYSE: SCCO) and Ero Copper Corp. (TSX: ERO).

Junior Mining & Copper

For investors with a stronger stomach for risk and the upside potential of significantly higher rewards, the world of copper exploration and development companies awaits. These junior mining companies are focused on exploration, development and working to get the mine(s) permitted with the goal of producing upwards of 100 million lbs. per year.  Once production surpasses that, the companies move into mid-tier or major company status.

When reviewing junior mining companies, it is important to look at the management to ensure that the leaders have a strong record of transitioning from discovery to production with other companies they have led. It is also important to assess that the team has a unique skill to navigate the mining sector in the regions they are focused on, and that the companies have substantial capital market experience and broad-based shareholder and investor support. So, before making that investment in that junior copper mining company, attend and review shareholder presentations and review the team’s credentials to make an intelligent investing decision.

As the President & CEO of a company focused on the exploration and development of copper porphyry projects in the United States and Chile, I think it is also important for investors to look at the junior copper mining company’s geopolitical ramifications of its properties looking for friendly regions, particularly South America, North America and Australia, rather than China.

“If China’s dominance of rare earth element supplies is the global energy transition’s ‘elephant in the room,’ then copper is the 800-pound gorilla,” according to the Baker Institute. President Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act to expand domestic production of critical minerals, which includes copper, should facilitate ongoing efforts of mining companies to produce geopolitically friendly copper in the United States.

By investing in copper mining companies, you are investing in the future of clean energy.  Alternatively, investors can hold copper in physical form, just like gold and silver which can be done by purchasing copper bullion bars or coins which sometimes attracts the ‘Doomsday’ crowd.  Investors can also gain exposure to the value of copper through the purchase of exchange-traded funds (ETF’s), futures or by investing in companies that mine and prospect for copper.

Copper has been used for thousands of years and faces increasing global demand with the advent of new technology, while simultaneously forecasted to experience significant declines in supply. Given its attributes, copper is often used for electrical purposes such as power transmission and generation. Like its base metal sibling nickel, it has a major role in the electric vehicle (EV) revolution, with the CRU Group expecting consumption of copper to jump five-fold by 2030 due to demand from the green energy market.

Copper is the third most consumed industrial metal in the world, behind iron ore and aluminum, as per the US Geological Survey. With copper’s starring role in the electric vehicle (EV) revolution, some analysts predict copper consumption will jump five-fold by 2030 due to green energy demands.

In November 2021, CitiBank wrote that “decarbonization will drive consumption,” and “higher prices will be needed to draw in enough copper scrap to meet longer-term demand.”

President Biden is contemplating removing tariffs on some Chinese goods to ease trade tensions between US and China, which could result in upside movement for copper. The major factors contributing to copper prices are supply and demand, economic growth, inflation, and the value of the US dollar. The bullish fundamentals for copper are driven by supply shortages and low global inventories, and its starring role in green electrification, transport and infrastructure.

Copper has been a critical metal for the global economy since the Bronze Age and its importance is only set to grow in the future. A savvy investor stands to benefit from adding some exposure to this critical metal as its growing importance begins to be realized.

The post Investing in Copper Mining Companies appeared first on Grit Daily News.

With every bull market, however, there are bear prognosticators who bet on the price of lithium to decline with the market heading into balance or even over-supply.  As a battery metals veteran, my viewpoint of “hold your horses, Wall Street” is echoed by many lithium analysts and experts who believe that battery metal market fundamentals shed light on a variety of pressing reasons why a lithium surplus marketplace with dramatically reduced prices is not on the horizon.

Industry veterans are joined by a number of analysts and other experts, including Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a leading research firm that covers green energy minerals.  Its recent report titled, “Lithium oversupply?  Not likely – five main reasons why” offers a convincing rebuttal to the flawed thesis that lithium supplies are, in fact, elastic.

How Fast Can Miners Move from Discovery to Production?

What lithium ‘bears’ do not understand is that while lithium may be present in a number of different forms globally, the processes involved in economically extracting and producing battery-grade lithium are extremely challenging. It can take up to a decade to discover a deposit, develop it, build a mine and extract and refine battery grade lithium. Even in China, where permitting is typically easier and lithium production is often fast-tracked, this is proving to be the case.

The process of turning lithium into the chemicals that power batteries is not easy.  Also, refining raw lithium into high-purity lithium carbonite, which is of sufficient quality for batteries, involves complicated metallurgical processing methods and is very time consuming.  

Ensuring Environmental Responsibility

While the production of the lightweight metal lithium is essential to technology to drive the shift to the new clean energy paradigm, certain processes associated with some forms of lithium production or refining are environmentally damaging.  In addition, with the primary sources of lithium being hard rock deposits and salar brines, lithium processing through conventional methods such as evaporation ponds are inefficient, with lithium extraction rates often less than 50%.

Pollution, significant high-water usage and land use permitting are other challenges that lithium miners face.  So, as EV makers are looking for long-term lithium suppliers, they should be mindful to ensure that their upstream suppliers are committed to environmentally sustainable mining practices. This is already happening, with some EV makers actively seeking out sustainable lithium miners.  However, with the domination of China in the global supply of refined battery products, including lithium, it’s not always possible to ensure best environmental practices are being adopted. Not only is it critically important that we develop domestic lithium supplies in North America, but also that we put sustainability and environmental best practices to the fore.

Fortunately, two major organizations, Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance and Responsible Minerals Initiative, have established the necessary guidelines to act as a gold standard for all sustainably mined materials.

Is Low Quality Chinese Lithium a Global Supply Fix?

Some lithium ‘bears’ point to China to account for a future oversupply of lithium.  Benchmark Mineral Intelligence is emphatic that China cannot ramp-up output significantly to create an over-supply. Here’s the crux of Benchmark’s argument as stated in its lithium report. “Known domestic Chinese spodumene and other hard-rock resources are low quality, a key reason why there has been an increasing reliance by Chinese converters on Australia for supply instead. China’s deposits of lepidolite may have the potential to help bridge the deficit in coming years, but are unlikely to lead to oversupply.”

According to Benchmark, “the lithium market will start to balance over the next few years” but believes it is unlikely that “marginal, unconventional feedstock will fill the deficit” and “unlikely that demand will weaken significantly.”

Benchmark’s view on spot prices for lithium concludes that, “end-users can only absorb so much cost pass through before it has an unsustainable impact on their electric vehicle ambitions.  However, the spot market price in China does not represent the true price of lithium in the market, and is often not the true price being paid by western battery majors. In these markets we expect to see a gradual ramp up in contract deals being settled with increasingly flexible, and more frequent, pricing mechanisms.”

Upstream Investment in Mining is Vital to Meet Rising Demand

It is important to encourage upstream investment in mining; particularly as there is still not enough upstream investment to meet current and future demands for lithium.  Some financial analysts predict global demand of 1.2 million metric tons of lithium carbonite by 2025, but the reality is that even this level of demand growth is likely to be well off the mark.  To my mind, the better way to measure the true pulse of the marketplace and what packs the most punch are the announcements from major lithium producers with Albemarle and Ganfeng Lithium each expecting demand of around 1.5 to 1.6 million metric tons of lithium carbonate in the same time-frame.

As for American Lithium, we are focused on aiding the shift to the new energy paradigm through the continued development of our TLC lithium claystone project in the richly mineralized Esmeralda lithium district in Nevada, which is within three hours’ drive of the Tesla giga-factory. We are also continuing to advance our high-purity, hard-rock Falchani lithium  project in southeastern Peru. This project has demonstrated the ability to precipitate battery-grade lithium carbonate without the need for additional refining. A robust preliminary economic assessment, that was published in 2020 and is now being upgraded, also suggest the prospect of low-operating costs.

All of this speaks to the fact that American Lithium intends to be a key part of upstream lithium development in the Americas.

Lithium Whisperer is the Marketplace

It is important to listen to the market place to gauge lithium supply status.  Consider the following statistics.  First of all, global EV sales doubled in February 2022 reports Inside EVs on April 6, 2022.  Or that the spot price of one metric ton of lithium carbonate (LCE) rose from $6,750 in September 2000 to a recent high of $78,000 USD. By 2025, automakers will have spent $365 billion USD building EV and HEV production facilities, reports Bloomberg Energy Finance.

As lithium scarcity grows, BloombergNEF forecasts prices of lithium carbonate and hydroxide — the main lithium chemicals used in battery production — to continue to go skyward until 2030 due to anticipated supply deficits.

“As the market wrestles between long-term supply security to fuel the lithium-ion economy, and increasingly market-led pricing mechanisms to incentivize supply growth, the era of lithium market volatility is likely just beginning,” Benchmark surmises.

Mission Critical: Urgency for ‘Made in America’ Lithium

The quest for EV manufacturers, (as well as other industrial and military users,) to secure access to high grade lithium is intense. So, too, is the need to ensure supply chain security.  To this end, the United States and other countries are looking to untangle their clean energy supply chains from China which is currently the leading producer of lithium-ion batteries.

As such, there is an urgency to secure long-term supplies from geopolitically-safe, lithium-rich countries such as the United States, Canada, and Peru. The conflict in Ukraine is a stark reminder of what happens when the supply of energy and other critical commodities is “in the hands” of unstable or unfriendly regimes. Accordingly, the US has a heightened need to source as much sustainable, “home-made” lithium and other critical minerals as quickly as possible, particularly given the fact that lithium mining in the US is currently estimated to account for less than 1% of the lithium mined annually across the world.

The post Lithium Oversupply?  Hold Your Horses appeared first on Grit Daily News.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, new lithium extraction technologies are attracting attention as these “methods “could help increase supplies, while attracting investors for their potential to speed up production and reduce the environmental impact compared with most current lithium-extraction methods, but none are, so far, proven at commercial scale.”

How is Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) defined?

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) states: “DLE technologies can be broadly grouped into three main categories: absorption using porous materials that enable lithium bonding, ion exchange, and solvent extraction.

Scaling up any of these techniques to full production capability remains a challenging task. For example, developing a solid material that bonds with just lithium is a huge challenge in geothermal brine that contains many minerals and metals at high temperatures and pressures. Successful DLE implementation will depend on expanding innovation and creating new technologies.”

“It’s such a game changer. There are huge opportunities,” U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told an energy conference in April 2022 about DLE.

In March 2022, One World Lithium announced the signing a licensing agreement with the US Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory division for a patent developed by the NETL for selectively recovering lithium from solutions of mixed metallic ions.

The DOE patent is an advanced direct lithium extraction (DLE) process for the extraction of lithium from natural brines, rapidly generating a pure lithium carbonate. The method uses unique carbon dioxide injection mixing techniques to quantitatively precipitate lithium carbonate from brines. This process requires no solvent, electrodes, membranes, or sorbents, but only uses carbon dioxide which can be sourced from industrial sources, waste or exhaust gas streams or, even, ambient air. It significantly reduces capital and operating costs, process time, energy requirements, and, paradoxically, overall carbon dioxide emissions.

The process can be fully deployable and operational at the brine source, eliminating the need to evaporate the brines and/or transport brine concentrates to a chemical processing facility to form and purify lithium carbonate. Deployment of this technology will reduce dependence on foreign lithium sources.

Many DLE Technologies Tap Significant Water Supplies

A major automobile manufacturer is relying on DLE technology to supply a lithium from the Salton Sea region of California. which purportedly “uses 10 tonnes of water for every tonne of lithium produced.”

By way of background,most of thelithium extraction processes use a lot of water —approximately 500,000 gallons per metric ton of lithium produced. Mining can consume the majority of a region’s fresh water, which negatively impacts the community and reduces the number of locations that are feasible. Lithium extraction technologies also have the potential for toxic chemicals to leak from the evaporation pools, or membrane filters, into the water supply. This includes hydrochloric acid, which may be created in the processing of lithium, and waste products that are filtered out of the brine.

While current extraction methods yield about 40% to 50% of the lithium present in a mined or brine resource, processes using DLE can extract 75% to 90%.

As The Wall Street Journal reported “many DLE technologies that work well in the laboratory often run into trouble in the field. Many of the technologies would likely still require large amounts of water and power to run the devices on a large scale.”

One World Lithium Inc.’s license agreement with the US Department of Energy and its National Energy Technology Laboratories (NETL) is focused on profitably separating high-purity lithium carbonate from a brine. The DOE patent is an advanced direct lithium extraction (DLE) process for the extraction of lithium from natural brines, rapidly generating a pure lithium carbonate. The method uses a unique multi-step high pressure/temperature application of carbon dioxide injection-mixing to ultimately directly and selectively precipitate lithium carbonate from brines. One World’s DLE technology competes favorably vs. competitors as:

• The process requires no solvent, electrodes, membrane, or sorbents and only uses carbon dioxide which can be sourced commercially or from industrial waste streams or ambient air.

• It significantly reduces capital and operation costs, process time, energy requirements, and, paradoxically, overall carbon dioxide emissions.

• The process can be fully operational at the brine source, eliminating transportation of brine derived solids to a chemical processing facility to form pure lithium carbonate. Deployment of this technology will reduce dependence on foreign lithium sources.

The stakes are high for DLE to be successful. The US Energy Department reports that at least 70% of U.S. lithium deposits are held in brine reserves. DLE could produce lithium in areas where open-pit mines face strong opposition. If a successful DLE technology is created, miners will increase global lithium production with a footprint significantly smaller than evaporation ponds or open-pit mines.

The post Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) Crucial as ‘Driving’ Force for Electric Vehicles appeared first on Grit Daily News.

The talks from Crypto School were situated under the psychedelic mushroom sculptures of Papaya Playa’s sandy beachside courtyard. Speakers were approachable, spiritual and profound, educating noobs and enthusiasts alike on best practices for acquiring crypto, NFTs, wallet safety measures and what not to do along your crypto journey.

Conscious Crypto

Conscious crypto is a vibe unique to Tulum that mixes spirituality, a mindset of abundance, self-reliance, personal expression, and a conscious relationship with money into a perfect barefoot luxury blend that has permeated its way into the psyche of the fest.

Embodied by the Ascended Trader, Crypto Love Ninja, and Tulum Crypto Club Founders, barefoot luxury promises a lifestyle abundant in time and freedom, over visible material wealth.

Education goes Hand in Hand with Crypto

In order to create a decentralized world, we must onboard more people into crypto. Even in a bear market, we can see that crypto can be a path to wealth and financial independence. With so many countries adopting bitcoin as a national tender it is easy to see that the current dip crypto is a buying opportunity. But that’s what someone who has already drunk the kool-aid would say. 

The Women Taking the Lead in Web3 panel featured a group of strong badass chingonas that are making waves in the web3 world sharing their journeys and lessons.

Miroslava Pineda Landa, is a serial entrepreneur and CEO of Fractional Class Mexico. Miroslava and her team are advancing fractional ownership of high end real-estate through the blockchain, having developed their own marketplace, smart contracts and wallets to offer democratized real estate investment opportunities to the public.

Francesca Martina, crypto enthusiast and founder of More Women in Crypto, believes that a decentralized way of life using blockchain can create new social and financial systems that benefit those traditional financial systems often leave behind. The organization has a mission to drive the adoption of crypto, offer mentorship opportunities, and bring exposure and visibility to women in blockchain.

Steph Ferrera is a Mexican entrepreneur, artist, community leader and cofounder of More Women In Crypto. Steph is passionate about encouraging mass adoption of decentralized systems and believes women have a powerful role to play in DEFI. Her experience as an ecologist and regeneration warrior has helped her bridge her passions into utility for Regen Tulum and as part of the team that is bringing Tulum Coin to market.

Karen Sieves is digital and traditional business designer, specializing in blockchain, NFT, and metaverse strategy development. Karen has been building projects in the blockchain and Web3 since 2017 and believes that these technologies are integral and essential to all modern and successful businesses. Her current projects such as MetaInvestors.eth are focused on education, web3 adoption and marketplace growth.

NFTs to Save the Planet

Another insightful and inspiring panel, NFTs to Save the Planet was headlined by Charlie Graham, CoFounder of Nemus and Pinche Chucho of Petgaseritos collection from Petgas. Both collections are on a mission to save the planet through Web3. 

Nemus´ model is the creation of NFTs that correlate to actual Amazon Rainforest land held in trust. The mint raise goes to the protection of this land, approximately the size of the island of Barbados or 41,000 hectares with plans to continue to expand the protected land acquired as well as sustainably develop the land with indigenous populations. Nemus is the first to use many innovations in both its planned game mechanics as well as how it is currently crowdsourcing its lore and getting its Guardians involved in the building and creation process. Nemus is building a ¨greenprint¨ for how to use Web3 as a model for conservation and inspiring a movement of similar projects that are using NFTs to bring awareness to and to save precious ecosystems like the Amazon.

Petgaseritos is the brainchild of Pinche Chucho, also known as Chucho Escoto Faces, Cofounder of Petgas.mx, a Mexican company that is bringing a new innovation to market that transforms plastic into clean fuels. The Petgaseritos go on adventures IRL (in real life) and around the metaverse incentivizing “plastic mining” through beach cleanups and other plastic collection initiatives which tie into the Petgas mission of shared responsibility where we all take part in saving the earth and de-plastifying the planet. Petgas NFT collections such as Petgaseritos will offer actual Petgas plant revenues as passive income opportunities and other drops of unlockable content. Petgaseritos and Petgas coin are two of the planned NFT collection launches it is planning as part of its web3 and corporate innovation strategy.

The XibablaNFT takes inspiration from Nemus´ Greenprint for Conservation. The 10,000 NFT planned collection will present the 10,000 square meters of stalactite and stalagmite filled cavern that is the most important cavern in the Mayan World.

A beautiful jewelbox of nature’s artwork, it hosts thousands of natural formations that have been forming since the meteorite that hit the earth and caused the Ice age killing the dinosaurs. It has one formation that is over 500,000 years old. The NFT project is meant to continue the work of the family that has been taking care of the cenote and restoring it to its current state and beauty. 

NFT Boutique at the Beach Holographic Experience

The NFT Boutique brought its holographic experience to the beach at Papaya Playa featuring new upcoming collections

such as the House of Panther, existing house collections Cosmic Cats 420, Petgaseritos, and also new partner collections currently for sale and minting such as The Eye of Soluminati, and Plantiver.se a collection of NFTs made by the plants themselves!

Plantiver.se is giving plants autonomy and a voice so that they can be active participants in the metaverse as well as our real world! The project attaches sensor to different plants and let their state control what art gets made. In this way, the plants have created beautiful images from a moment in their life, making them unique, collectible records and reminders of the powers and talents of the natural world we live in.

Tulum Crypto Fest brought the Tuluminati barefoot luxury beach vibes and showed the world why Tulum is the cultural center of Web3. A huge thanks to fest organizers, Tulum Crypto Fest, Like Group, Nazieh Fazli and Peiman Fazli of Coworking Tulum, and Feel the Fruit.

The post Tulum Crypto Fest: It’s a Wrap! appeared first on Grit Daily News.

With this in mind, it only makes sense that, as we attempt to reach a “net zero” status individually and as a culture, we must address the issues of emissions produced by every purchase and every transaction that takes place every single day.

How Many Financial Transactions are Made Daily?

Right now, there are more than 350 billion purchases, over one billion credit card transactions, and over 319 thousand new credit organizations across the globe every single day. Each one of these transactions is potentially responsible for some quantity of CO2 emissions. Add to this the consideration that every other industry, even those who are top polluters, like energy, transportation, agriculture, fashion, and food, relies on a functioning financial industry, and one can conclude that the financial industry bears a heavy responsibility in moving toward full sustainability.

In 2022, we may have finally come to a relative end to the COVID pandemic, however the greater and more long term threat to our existence, which is climate change, is still yet to be resolved. There is no vaccine or easy solution to this issue and it’s going to take the sincere effort of every individual and every industry to make a significant change in the future of our entire planet.

The financial industry currently relies heavily on many different processes that are outdated. There’s outdated software from companies that are no longer operating. There are antiquated methods on antiquated devices and are not environmentally friendly. They are also more vulnerable to cyber crimes. In other words, in every respect, the finance industry needs to move forward in the way it functions.

The Move to the Cloud for Financial Services

One of the most modern, secure, and sustainable ways that the finance industry can get up to date is by transitioning to cloud computing. Transitioning to the cloud can save 59 million metric tons of CO2 emissions every single year; the equivalent of removing 22 million vehicles from the roads. That’s a significant impact, and one that can and should take place. This is especially true in an industry that allows all other industries to keep functioning.

In the past 5 years, 85% of consumers have changed purchasing habits in order to be more environmentally responsible. Many would be willing to pay a little more for goods and services that are also sustainably sourced. This is reason enough for finance executives to be paying attention, and thankfully many are doing just that.

Eighty-six percent of executives report making changes toward sustainability, and 74% believe that sustainability can drive business reforms. However, the majority also are struggling to know exactly how to make their organizations more sustainable.

Once again, cloud computing can be a perfect option for these companies. Cloud computing offers sustainability, modernization, and consumer appeal. 

The post Cloud Computing Is Modernizing the Finance Industry appeared first on Grit Daily News.

In a recent interview, Joe Lowry, a mining consultant and podcaster known as Mr. Lithium, told Bloomberg that there will be a heightened gap between supply and demand over the next two years.

During Tesla Motor’s last earning call, CEO Elon Musk even urged entrepreneurs to get into the mining business, saying that “the lithium margins right now are practically software margins. I think this there’s a, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think we’re seeing cases where the spot lithium price is 10 times higher than the cost of extraction. So not like we’re talking 90% margins here. Can more people please get into the lithium business? Do you like minting money? Well, lithium business is for you.”

Mining & Producing Lithium: Not for Feint-Hearted

Speaking geologically, lithium is relatively common but the process of exploration and extraction takes years and has many risks. One major source of lithium is from salt-encrusted depressions, usually the basin of an ancient evaporated lake, which are called ‘salars.’ These salars are targeted for geological exploration, as many have lithium concentrated in dissolved salts that have accumulated over millions of into underground brine pools.  Traditional methods to extract this lithium is to pump the brines to the surface and then evaporate the water and leave the salts behind, including lithium.

However, drawing on Elon Musk’s comment, patience is not a virtue for software entrepreneurs (who are more akin to the people at EV producers). Their patience might by challenged by the lengthy process of moving lithium projects from discovery to production. As Mr. Lithium sagely notes, “You can build a battery factory in two years, but it takes up to a decade to bring a lithium project on-line. It’s not a commodity; it’s a specialty chemical. Lithium is often compared with iron ore or other major commodities, and it behaves nothing like that. The auto industry is just finally figuring that out. Lithium qualification for an auto company can take over a year.”

The process of turning lithium into the chemicals that power batteries is not easy and it is not fast. Even after the long development steps to produce lithium from a salar, refining lithium involves chemical processes that cause water and soil pollution without proper controls. As such, it can take many years for a new lithium-mining operation to produce battery-grade materials.

As lithium scarcity grows, the price continues its upswing. BloombergNEF forecasts anticipated supply deficits of lithium carbonate and hydroxide — the main lithium chemicals used in battery production — will drive prices steadily skyward until 2030.

Securing Lithium in Geopolitically Friendly Regions

The quest for access to high grade lithium among EV manufacturers is heated. The United States and other countries disentangling their clean energy supply chains from China, currently the leading lithium producer, are urgently searching for new sources in geopolitically safe lithium-rich countries, particularly Chile.

Chile, Argentina and Bolivia comprise the lithium “golden triangle”. The Atacama Salar in Chile accounts for 35% of the world’s lithium production and is also the site of the lion’s share of new lithium projects globally. Atacama is also the world’s highest-grade lithium brine source. This translates into large volumes of lithium material and low-cost production, given how rich the resource is there.

Lithium Companies in Chile

The two biggest companies extracting lithium today in Chile are Albemarle, a U.S.-based company that also controls the largest lithium operations in Australia, and Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM), Chile’s largest lithium mining company. Current exploration for lithium in Chile has been concentrated in the Atacama Salar and the Maricunga Salar. The leading junior mining companies operating in the Chilean lithium mining market are Calgary based Lithium Chile and my company, Vancouver, BC-based Wealth Minerals.

Lithium Extraction Technology Gains Buzz

As the demand for lithium has increased dramatically in the recent past, so has scrutiny of lithium business operations. Current production technology involves using solar evaporation as a first step to extract lithium from a resource. Basically, it means evaporating water off into the open air to recover dissolved lithium salts. While it is a cheap and easy process, it is an anathema in the driest area of the world.

New lithium extraction technologies have begun to attract attention with Direct Lithium Extraction (“DLE”) gaining the most headlines and investment. “While traditional methods yield about 40% to 50% of the lithium present in a mined resource, processes using DLE can extract 75% to 90%, companies behind the technologies say,” reports The Wall Street Journal. “The question is whether DLE is ready to make a major difference. Many DLE technologies that work well in a laboratory often run into trouble in the field, experts say. Many of the technologies would likely still require large amounts of water and power to run the devices on a large scale.”

“Right now, it’s still very theoretical,” says Chris Berry, founder of House Mountain Partners LLC, an adviser to battery-metals companies and investors. However, despite the technological challenges of DLE, it seems certain that traditional solar evaporation is coming to an end, as social pressure to end the practice is increasingly being felt at the level of government regulators across the industry.

The quest to develop more lithium asset and production technologies is notably is heating up in the United States, with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) investing $2.91B “to boost production of the advanced batteries that are critical to rapidly growing clean energy industries of the future, including electric vehicles and energy storage.”  This step, and similar ones being taken by governments and industry worldwide, point to a future of more lithium consumption and better technology to use lithium to get the most benefit from its energy-storage capabilities.

To date, the lithium industry has a poor track record of delivering supply to the market, as demonstrated by multiple projects announced earlier this decade not being built, and multiple expansion plans of existing operations not being realized. However, those companies that have the access to capital and, most importantly, access to top tier specialists, have been able to perform quite well. I believe that Wealth Minerals is well placed to join the ranks of these top tier performers.

The post EV Manufacturers Face a Lithium Shortage Expected to Last for Years appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Tulum’s exquisite beauty is everywhere – from its clear, crystal blue sea water to its cleansing and transcendent cenotes, it is a magical place with extraordinary energy and pull. This shiny gem on the Mayan Riviera has always been a place of great importance and energy. The ancient Mayan name for Tulum is Zama, meaning City of Dawn. Zama was an important trading hub, where the Mayans built a beautiful temple.

Tulum has always been a cultural center. Digital nomads, technologists, crypto enthusiasts, and eco-warriors from all over the world (author included) have flocked to Tulum since realizing that WFH (work from home) could in fact mean WFB (work from the beach).

Tulum Crypto Fest (TCF), May 13-15, plans to shine a spotlight on this “barefoot luxury” lifestyle. Tulum has become a portal to a life of business mixed with pleasure, while surrounded by nature.

The festival theme “Where nature meets technology” unites the two worlds through an IRL techno-luxury experience connecting with the brightest minds in Defi, planet freethinkers, and eco-conscious builders, along with excellent content and networking. TCF is a non-traditional festival that features renowned international speakers, unique interactive experiences and a spotlight on the boho-chic decentralized way of life that has become a magnet for the world.

TCF has partnered with NFT Boutique in Tulum to provide an “NFT Boutique at the Beach” experience through holographic NFT displays in the Papaya Playa Project courtyard, where the festival will be centered.

NFT Boutique is also excited to present a special daily happy hour during the fest from 5-8pm featuring Crypto Art and Culture exhibit by Aaron Koenig.

The festival itself takes place in the beautiful beachside eco-hotel, Papaya Playa Project (PPP), a hotel that is emblematic of Tulum’s boho chic. TCF will be an immersive experience featuring 5-star service and unique experiences accessible only to attendees. These include a private cenote event, healing and wellness, and evening activities including top DJs. Attendees can truly have a taste the barefoot luxury lifestyle Tulum offers.

For tickets to Tulum Crypto Fest, use this link and code NFTBoutique for a discount! See you at the beach!

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Trivium Packaging’s recently released 2022 Global Buying Green Report reveals that 86% of consumers among younger generations (under 44) showed a willingness to pay more for sustainable packaging. In contrast, more than half of consumers are “less likely” to buy products in harmful packaging.

Interestingly, a sustainability trend that most consumers wanted to see more of was refillable solutions. The report noted that 74% of consumers said they would be interested in buying products that come in refillable packaging. And 68% of consumers have chosen a product in the last six months based on its sustainability credentials.

Yes, consumers want products in recyclable packaging, but they also recognize the value of extending packaging life through reuse. Therefore, refillable packaging is a versatile and valuable solution for consumer products.

“The data in this year’s Buying Green report presents a strong case that transitioning to sustainable packaging is not only the right decision for the environment but also the right decision for any business,” said Jenny Wassenaar, Chief Sustainability Officer Trivium Packaging. “Metal packaging is perfectly aligned with a circular economy. Once produced, metals exist forever and can be used, reused, and recycled endlessly without losing quality.”

Brands already ahead of the curve are Petal—which offers stylish aluminum hand-soap dispensers that can be refilled with soap pods—and Three Main has taken a similar approach with home cleaning products. And Bubble Tree is a refillable bubble solution that makes its classic bubble-making product in colorful, kid-friendly aluminum packaging.

“Brands that take a more holistic approach to sustainability by making packaging material part of their story can help align perceptions with reality and strengthen their sustainability credentials,” said Trivium Packaging C.E.O. Michael Mapes. “The consumer demand for eco-friendly packaging is higher than ever, and the consumer behaviors, as a result, speak for themselves – businesses need to step up.”

This shift, despite consumers being less focused on sustainability during the pandemic, is likely due to the fact they were spending more time at home. This forced people to see more of their own waste and become aware of the volume of packaging associated with online purchases. In fact, according to the NielsenIQ Report Sustainable Business: The New Force to Be Reckoned With, “The pandemic spurred consumers to shop their values more than ever.”

The 2022 Buying Green Report is based on a survey of more than 15,000 consumers across Europe, North America, and South America, ranging in age, gender, and income distribution. The data collected through these surveys over the last three years provide keen insight into consumer trends related to sustainable packaging and includes the impact of the changing world (i.e., the pandemic) on behaviors and values.

Read the entire report here. 

The post New Study Reveals Consumers Want More Refillable Packaging appeared first on Grit Daily News.