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CARL AZUZ: Hi, I'm Carl Azuz for CNN.
The United States imports more goods from China
than any other nation.
Between 18% and 19% of the goods brought
into America come from China.
The Asian country has been the world's
largest exporter of goods since 2009,
according to Investopedia.
It's known as the world's factory.
China is able to make things at lower
cost than other countries, and that can result in lower
prices people have to pay.
But the downside is that when there
are supply problems in China, like there are now,
they can ripple around the world.
We've reported on the Communist country's
strict zero-COVID policy.
While other nations have moved toward living with the virus,
China continues to apply large-scale lockdowns
and mass testing policies whenever cases are detected.
The country says this policy, quote, "puts life first,"
and that it's effective at keeping
coronavirus from spreading.
But critics say it goes too far, that it's hurting that country
socially and economically, and that it's
time for China to change it.
Right now, there's either a full or partial lockdown
in more than 30 Chinese cities.
As many as 214 million people have been affected.
There's no sign China will make any changes.
And with strict containment rules
in place in cities like Shanghai,
which is China's financial center,
manufacturing output is only a fraction
of what it normally is.
And unused factories have been turned into quarantine centers.
Despite protests from some Chinese workers,
what this means for businesses that are
oceans away is that wait times for products
are months longer than usual.
Companies from Apple to General Electric
say supply problems in China are hurting businesses in America,
and some small companies that depend
on China to make their goods are afraid of going out
of business.
Prices on Chinese products are expected
to rise around the world.
Some experts predict that Chinese supply chain problems
could get worse this year than they were in 2021,
and that businesses may look to manufacture their products
in other countries.
:10 Trivia-- what is the lightest metal on Earth?
Titanium, lithium, aluminum, or magnesium?
Of all the metals, lithium is the lightest.
Of all the cars, SUVs, and trucks in America, less than 1%
of them are electric.
That's according to the "Reuters" news agency.
But the US government says sales of electric and hybrid cars
are growing, almost doubling from 308,000
in 2020, to 608,000 in 2021.
Like gas-powered vehicles, they have their pros and cons.
Electrics are less polluted to drive than other cars,
and you can charge them at home without going
to the gas station.
But charging stations are generally harder to find,
and it takes a lot longer to charge an EV
than it does to gas up an internal combustion engine.
EVs are quieter and require less maintenance,
but they're more expensive to buy,
and their battery packs are expensive to replace,
while it's far less likely you'd replace the engine
of a gas-powered car.
Still, with sales on the rise, one thing electric carmakers
need is lithium.
It's the lightest of the metals in a crucial part
of the batteries for computers, smartphones, and electric cars.
But mining and refining lithium can
threaten the natural environment and contribute to pollution,
so there's a tradeoff there.
PETER VALDES-DAPENA: 8,000 feet beneath my feet,
there's enough lithium to power America's electric car industry
into the foreseeable future.
- There is a treasure, potentially
worth billions of dollars.
He takes us to a remote part of California,
near the border with Mexico.
- --in a billion-dollar project, promising
to transform this region.
PETER VALDES-DAPENA: Now, what some people are calling
California's lithium valley, is an economic and environmental
wasteland.
But it could be on the cusp of a boom
like this area hasn't seen in 60 years.
It's not like there was any big secret.
It's not like people didn't know there was lithium
in the groundwater here before.
It just wasn't worth enough to bother getting it out.
But now, with lithium prices going through the roof,
companies that before were just concentrating
on geothermal energy are seeing even more potential in
the metal that's in the water.
Geothermal companies like EnergySource
that has operations in the southern tip of the Salton Sea
and is modifying its facilities for lithium extraction.
Why is there so much lithium in the ground here?
DEREK BENSON: So geologically, this is an interesting place.
Colorado River has canyons in the West.
All of that mineral, all of those deposits,
have made their way here.
PETER VALDES-DAPENA: I have heard that there is,
theoretically at least, enough lithium
in this area to supply all the electric cars
in America for some time.
DEREK BENSON: There certainly is a lot of lithium potential
here at the Salton Sea.
You could calculate, approximately,
a little over 100,000 tons per year
of lithium battery products.
That's quite a lot, and certainly more than the US
consumes right at the moment.
I think there's a realistic opportunity
to potentially double that.
PETER VALDES-DAPENA: Geothermal facilities
will use a method of extraction where they will both create
geothermal power and collect the valuable lithium
from the hot brine deep below.
This involves drawing the lithium from the brine
after it has completed its journey
to help produce electricity.
It's clean energy making clean energy--
and the kind of investment and opportunity
that could transform a region that, only a half-century
ago, was full of such promise.
- This is the story of the miracle sea in the desert--
the Salton Sea.
FRANK RUIZ: If you came here during the '50s and '60s,
you will find, most likely, people from Hollywood,
the luminaries from Southern California, coming to boat
and playing golf.
And only 50 years later, this is what we have.
It went from being the Western Riviera to being one
of the worst nightmares, environmentally
and public health-wise.
PETER VALDES-DAPENA: What happened?
FRANK RUIZ: We started losing water.
The water became more saline.
There were a massive fish die-offs.
We have more water being evaporated,
leaving more salt behind and other elements.
The sea is an example of what is happening, pretty
much, all around the West.
PETER VALDES-DAPENA: While the geothermal companies
are ramping up testing and facilities for regular lithium
production, automakers from around the country
are visiting the area and staking claim.
- The automaker says it plans to be carbon-neutral by 2040.
PETER VALDES-DAPENA: If automakers
hope to fulfill their EV ambitions over the next decade,
some, like General Motors, are cutting deals
with local geothermal companies as a way
to ensure their lithium supply chains.
ROD COLWELL: Mary Barra's leadership
in the small sustainability side and localizing of minerals
per the federal administration really
advanced that relationship.
So stage one is 20,000 ton-per-year
lithium hydroxide-- facility, which
will go to General Motors.
And beyond stage one, we're looking at another 100,000
for stage two.
PETER VALDES-DAPENA: And you would then ship
that to a battery manufacturer?
ROD COLWELL: Yeah, so at the moment,
there's no real sort of precursor
or cathode manufacturers in the United States.
So currently, that would be the case, which
is a bit of a crying shame--
I mean, to put it on a truck, put it on a ship,
send it to South Korea or China, and then send it back
as a cathode active material.
The opportunity really is the blank canvas out
here to co-locate those facilities--
would make commercial sense.
PETER VALDES-DAPENA: And that opportunity
is quickly being fulfilled.
Already, [inaudible] has announced plans
to build a massive battery production
facility in the valley that could supply batteries
for up to 650,000 EVs a year, and create possibly
2,500 jobs in the area.
What are your fears, in terms of if it's not done right?
How can it be done wrong?
FRANK RUIZ: Not being able to provide the benefits they are--
they claim to-- all these they're promising to provide,
and the kind of jobs for the community.
Direct and indirect benefits to the Salton Sea--
if all the conditions are played correctly,
this can be really good for the economy.
This can be really good for the region.
Nationwide, it can be a catalyst.
If it is done right, it can be really good.
CARL AZUZ: Launching a rocket typically takes a lot of fuel.
What if, instead of blasting off,
you were to spin the rocket around
and around so fast that you could
then fling it toward space?
That's the idea behind Spin Launch, a startup company that
uses a centrifuge, a sort of high-tech slingshot,
to get a rocket up to 5,000 miles per hour,
and then release it.
After it's in the sky is when its engines
would fire up and carry it to suborbital space.
If this gets off the ground, so to speak,
the company hopes it'll be a lower-cost launch option.
So is this the center of future of space travel?
When it gets up to speed, will folks one day say,
may the centripetal force be with you?
Or is it a slingshot in the dark that makes heads spin,
but otherwise fails to catapult changes in star treks?
It's certainly space food for thought on your lunch break.
I'm Carl Azuz.
You-- or some of you anyway-- are
watching from Derby, Vermont.
Shout-out to North Country Union Junior High School.
We will fling another show your way tomorrow.