HINDUTVA IS FASCISM

India's Gen Z grapples with Modi's dark past in new documentary

Yashraj Sharma

Sat, January 28, 2023 

SRINAGAR, India — When the lights were suddenly cut off, the crowd of young people switched on the flashlights on their smartphones. They turned them toward the seat of a motorbike, where student activist Aishe Ghosh stood in defiance.

“They will shut one screen, we will open hundreds,” she shouted.

The students had gathered at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, the Indian capital, for an outdoor screening of a new BBC documentary that is critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his role in the deadly 2002 riots in Gujarat when he was the western state’s chief minister.

After the power outage — Ghosh blames the university administration, which hasn’t commented on it publicly — students streamed the film on their phones and laptops instead, either through VPNs or by sharing proxy links to archived footage via encrypted apps.

Authorities in India, the world’s largest democracy, have gone to extraordinary lengths to stop people inside the country from seeing the film since the first part aired in Britain last week, invoking emergency powers to order the removal of any clips or links that are posted on social media platforms including YouTube and Twitter. For Indians dismayed by what they see as rising authoritarianism under Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, watching the documentary has become a symbol of protest.

Tensions escalated in the university after a student group said it planned to screen a banned documentary that examines Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's role during 2002 anti-Muslim riots, prompting dozens of police equipped with tear gas and riot gear to gather outside campus gates. (Manish Swarup / AP)More

Many of India’s young people have no memory of the riots, in which more than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed. Modi denies being complicit in the attacks, and India’s Supreme Court upheld a ruling last year that he should be cleared of all charges.

Over half of India’s 1.4 billion people are under the age of 30, and they are shaping up to be a pivotal political force in the 2024 general election and beyond, Ghosh told NBC News.

“It is very important for the BJP to control these minds,” she said.

Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, called the BBC film, “India: The Modi Question,” a “propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative” and said it reflected a “colonial mind-set.”

In a statement, the British broadcaster said that the film had been “rigorously researched” and that the Indian government had declined to comment on the allegations.

The first part of the documentary is about Modi’s political career before he became prime minister. Gujarat was convulsed by riots in early 2002 when Hindu mobs, blaming Muslims for the deaths of 59 Hindu pilgrims in a train fire, retaliated against Muslim communities.

Narendra Modi n New Delhi on Wednesday. (T. Narayan / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

According to the film, British officials said the violence bore “the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing” and that Modi, as chief minister, was “directly responsible” for letting it happen.

Harsh Mander, who quit his job as a civil servant to become a rights activist after the riots in Gujarat, said they “showed us a very different India than what we had promised ourselves at independence” in 1947.

“Today’s generation needs to see what happened in 2002 and make an informed choice,” he added. “Is this the India you want?”

For years, Modi was barred from traveling to the United States over his role in the riots, being invited back only after he became prime minister in 2014. The second half of the BBC documentary, which aired in Britain this week, focuses on his leadership since then.

Critics say Modi has promoted discrimination against India’s Muslim minority and quashed dissent, especially since his re-election in 2019. Some journalists have been stopped from traveling overseas, and government demands for the removal of content on Twitter have soared. Last year, India fell to 150th out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Wednesday that the U.S. supported press freedom and other rights that strengthen democracies.

“This is a point we make in our relationships around the world,” he said at a regular briefing. “It’s certainly a point we’ve made in India as well.”

Opposition lawmakers in India have also pushed back, sharing links to the documentary that have since stopped working.

“Sorry, Haven’t been elected to represent world’s largest democracy to accept censorship,” Mahua Moitra, a member of Parliament from the center-left All India Trinamool Congress, said on Twitter. “Here’s the link. Watch it while you can.”

But Kanchan Gupta, a senior adviser to India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, called the film “anti-India garbage” and said YouTube and Twitter had complied with government orders to block it from being shared.

Tensions escalated in the university after a student group said it planned to screen a banned documentary that examines Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's role during 2002 anti-Muslim riots, prompting dozens of police equipped with tear gas and riot gear to gather outside campus gates. (Manish Swarup / AP)

Both platforms have struggled with free speech issues in India. Twitter sued the Indian government last year over sweeping regulatory changes that give officials greater power to demand the removal of online content they deem threatening to the state, the same changes now being used to censor the BBC documentary. The future of the lawsuit is uncertain under the company’s new owner, Elon Musk.

“First I’ve heard,” Musk, who calls himself a free speech absolutist, said on Twitter this week when asked about the BBC film’s censorship in India. “It is not possible for me to fix every aspect of Twitter worldwide overnight, while still running Tesla and SpaceX, among other things.”

Kunal Majumder, the Indian representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said officials had weaponized an emergency provision of the laws, which are known as the Information Technology Rules, against legitimate journalism.

“The government has reacted to the documentary calling it propaganda and [part of a] colonial mind-set,” he said. “How does that qualify as an emergency?”
‘We created a plan’

Nivedya P.T., a student in New Delhi, was 2 years old at the time of the riots in Gujarat. She and others defied warnings from her university, Jamia Millia Islamia, not to screen the BBC film because “it is very important for us to know about our history,” she said.

“You cannot just block a documentary arbitrarily saying it is propaganda. That’s not right,” Nivedya said. “We have freedom of expression in this country, and we can watch any documentary and movie we want. So we created a plan.”

The screening was set for Wednesday night. That morning, Nivedya said, university staff chased her around campus and confiscated her phone. In the afternoon, she and three other students were taken away by police.

Students staged a protest near campus that night demanding Nivedya’s release, clashing with police officers equipped with tear gas and riot gear. Five students from the protest were detained as well, she said.

The campus remained closed the next day, students told NBC News, and police have maintained a strong presence in the area.

Nivedya’s detention came on the eve of Republic Day, a national holiday marking the anniversary of India officially adopting its Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression.

“We are being deprived of our fundamental rights,” Nivedya lamented after she was released. “I’m not sure how democratic India is anymore.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

Why Indian students are protesting the banning of a BBC documentary

Students in India have clashed with police over the ban of a documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's involvement in the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in the state of Gujarat.


Niamh Cavanagh
·Reporter
Fri, January 27, 2023 


Student activists in Kochi, India, on Wednesday with an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after they watched the BBC documentary "India: The Modi Question."

 (Arun Chandrabose/AFP via Getty Images)

LONDON — Students in India have clashed with police over the government banning of a BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his involvement in the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in the state of Gujarat. The documentary, “India: The Modi Question,” found the leader to be “directly responsible” for enabling the violence that led to the death of 2,000 Muslims. India’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the documentary as “propaganda” and reportedly invoked emergency powers to have it taken down online.

What is happening in India?

Hundreds of students at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi had gathered to watch a screening of the documentary organized by student president and activist Aishe Ghosh. The university had threatened disciplinary action if the screening went ahead, claiming that it would disturb the peace on campus. Before it could air, the power was cut, forcing the students to watch the documentary on their phones and laptops.

“It was obviously the administration that cut off the power,” Ghosh told Reuters. “We are encouraging campuses across the country to hold screenings as an act of resistance against this censorship.” The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) said it plans to show the documentary in every state in India.

People watch the documentary in Kochi, India, on Tuesday.

 (Arun Chandrabose/AFP via Getty Images)

On Wednesday, multiple students at Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi were arrested after a group planned a screening. According to the SFI, the 13 students who were detained have yet to be released from police custody. The All India Student Association called for further protests and condemned the police’s “brutality.”

India currently ranks 150 out of 180 countries in the Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders.

Why was the documentary banned?

Last week, the BBC released the first part of the two-part series, which highlighted a British government document that said Modi was “responsible” for the riots in Gujarat when he was the state’s chief minister.

The diplomatic report featured in the documentary stated that there had been “widespread and systematic rape of Muslim women” and violence that was “politically motivated,” all of which had the “hallmarks of ... ethnic cleansing.”

The documentary was not set to air in India, and the government made it difficult for residents to access it online. After describing the documentary as a “propaganda piece designed to push a particularly discredited narrative,” the government blocked segments of it from YouTube and Twitter, implementing state censorship under the Information Technology Rules. Unnamed sources told the digital liberties nonprofit Internet Freedom Foundation that both Twitter and Google’s YouTube had complied and enforced the ban.

A policeman looks over a burned train car and belongings of Hindu activists in Godhra, India, on Feb. 28, 2002. (Sebastian D'Souza/AFP via Getty Images)

Arindam Bagchi, a spokesperson for the Indian government, on Thursday criticized the documentary, saying, “The bias, the lack of objectivity, and frankly a continuing colonial mindset, are blatantly visible.”

The BBC defended the documentary, saying the organization had adhered to the “highest editorial standards.”
What happened during the Gujarat riots?

How the riots in February 2002 began remains disputed. However, what is agreed on is that four cars of a train caught fire, burning 59 people, including 10 children, to death. Most of the travelers on board were Hindu pilgrims. Authorities have convicted 31 Muslims of murder over the fire. Within hours, anti-Muslim riots broke out across the state and 2,000 people lost their lives.

Modi has been accused of enabling the riots and was accused of having said that Hindus should be allowed to vent their anger. In a sworn statement in 2011, a senior police officer who worked during the riots alleged that Modi told officials that the Muslim community needed to be taught a lesson, the BBC reported.

An activist armed with an iron rod shouts slogans against Muslims in Ahmedabad, India, on Feb, 28, 2002. (Sebastian D'Souza/AFP via Getty Images)

Under the leadership of Modi, the National Democratic Alliance, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, came into power in 2014.

In June 2021, Modi was cleared by India’s Supreme Court of any wrongdoing in the riots after a plea was filed when a special investigation team exonerated him along with 62 fellow senior government officials.
How is Elon Musk involved?

Elon Musk, as the owner of Twitter, has been blamed for Twitter’s decision to censor clips from the documentary on the app. However, Musk denied that he knew anything about the alleged censorship. Replying to a post on Twitter, he said it was the first he had heard of the matter. “It is not possible for me to fix every aspect of Twitter worldwide overnight, while still running Tesla and SpaceX, among other things,” he tweeted.

Twitter and YouTube haven't immediately replied to requests for comment.

There's almost unlimited clean, geothermal energy under our feet. New tech could help unleash that potential in New Mexico.

Kevin Robinson-Avila, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
Sat, January 28, 2023 

Jan. 28—Canadian company Eavor Inc. drilled an 18,000-foot well bore this past fall in southwest New Mexico to prove it could hammer its way through deep-underground, hard-granite rock to reach previously untapped geothermal energy.

Eavor's well now stands as the deepest hole ever drilled in New Mexico, successfully demonstrating that the company's new technology can potentially crack open access to vast subsurface hot-rock formations that offer massive amounts of clean, renewable energy.

Eavor's success is just the latest achievement in what could soon become a global renaissance in geothermal development that's got both industry experts and public officials hyped about the potential for unleashing a virtually unlimited source of clean energy for electric generation, and for heating and cooling of homes and buildings.

"We have massive geothermal resources sitting below our feet, but it's been elusive to tap into the deep subsurface areas we need to reach to extract that energy economically and use it," Eavor Vice President of Business Development Neil Ethier told the Journal. "... Our drilling project in southwest New Mexico showed that our technology can unlock that geothermal potential, and it's now ready for commercial development."

In fact, the company is preparing to break ground in Nevada on its first 20-megawatt geothermal power plant in the U.S. using its new technology to exploit deep hot-rock formations. The project will supply power to local utility NV Energy, pending approval by state regulators in Nevada.

That project could be the first of many new power plants Eavor expects to build in western states, where geothermal energy is more readily accessible at levels closer to the surface than in other places. Eventually, that could include New Mexico as well, which has the sixth-highest geothermal potential in the nation, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado.

"New Mexico's geothermal resource is very good," Ethier said. "It's a wonderful opportunity for New Mexico to develop clean, firm, baseload electricity that employs New Mexicans."

Eavor is one of many companies now aggressively pursuing geothermal development with modern drilling technologies that allow them to tap into the deep underground rock formations that eluded the industry in years past.

Texas-based Fervo Technologies, for example, has also signed new power purchase agreements in western states to build modern geothermal power plants, including three separate projects with utilities in California for a combined total of nearly 100 MW of generation. And, as that company perfects its drilling techniques — and as economies of scale kick in to lower costs — Fervo expects to target a lot more places for geothermal development, including New Mexico, said Fervo Senior Associate for Policy and Regulatory Affairs Laura Singer.

"We definitely see New Mexico as an opportunity for the future once we get our drilling costs lower and our techniques fully hammered out," Singer told the Journal.

State legislation

Both Eavor and Fervo met with a geothermal working group last year that state Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, formed to explore local development potential, paving the way for newly proposed legislation in this year's session to promote the industry.

Ortiz y Pino has filed the Geothermal Resources Development Act, Senate Bill 8, to provide $25 million in state money for grants and loans for research and development of geothermal energy projects around New Mexico. And he filed a second bill, SB-173, to offer up to $10 million annually in tax breaks for new geothermal projects.

The legislation could inspire more investment in both geothermal electric generation, and use of geothermal energy to heat and cool homes and buildings.

Heating-and-cooling technology is well developed. But it requires more education and promotional incentives to encourage broad market adoption and deployment.

In contrast, geothermal electric generation based on today's emerging technologies that target deep hot-rock formations is still evolving. But it's nearing the commercial break-out point.

"We're on the cusp of it," Ortiz y Pino told the Journal. "Eavor just drilled a hole nearly 19,000 feet deep to show it can do this. That opens the door to a lot more potential development as other energy companies jump in."

Both of Ortiz y Pino's bills have bipartisan support, with two Republican senators co-sponsoring them. And more bipartisan backing is likely, Ortiz y Pino said.

That's because, apart from offering clean "baseload" energy that can operate 24/7 all year long, today's emerging technology could also create direct employment opportunities for workers in the oil and gas industry as the state diversifies away from fossil fuels.

Drilling for heat, not hydrocarbons

Indeed, it's the modern drilling technologies developed by the oil and gas industry that are opening the gateway to deep underground geothermal energy, making the drilling rigs and skilled workforce that manage today's oil and gas operations essential for companies like Eavor and Fervo to bust through hard, subsurface granite to reach hot-rock formations.

"We're piggybacking off technology advancements in oil and gas drilling," Ethier said. "But instead of drilling for hydrocarbons, we're drilling for heat. Fifteen years ago we couldn't do this."

Modern hydraulic fracturing methods that include hardened drill bits to crack open tough shale beds — plus advanced seismic sensor technology and data analysis to pinpoint and accurately target underground hydrocarbon deposits — all contributed to the shale gas revolution, allowing the industry to exploit previously untapped oil-and-gas reservoirs.

More recently, horizontal drilling technology has pushed oil and gas operations into unprecedented levels of development, permitting operators to penetrate laterally into shale beds stretching in all directions to reach more pockets of hydrocarbons.

Now, those same drilling techniques — combined with further technology development by the geothermal companies themselves — is creating a paradigm shift that, for the first time, lets developers dig far below the shallow hot water aquifers that the geothermal industry has traditionally targeted to instead bore deeper down into hot-rock formations.

That capability opens up access to far more geothermal energy in many more places, because developers are no longer limited to exploring and developing around volcanos and fault lines where natural subsurface fracturing has created pools of relatively shallow, underground reservoirs. Such conditions are relatively rare and are concentrated in certain places, such as the western U.S.

"The industry has been historically limited to conventional wet, steamy reservoirs where developers look for the steam and natural fault lines," Singer said. "We don't need steam now. We look instead for hot rock at reasonable depths. Subsurface heat exists everywhere — it's just a matter of how deep it is."

Nearly 20 years ago, extensive research showed that intense subsurface heat is ubiquitous and basically inexhaustible nearly everywhere below the Earth's crust, with heat level depending on depth, said Shari Kelly, a senior geophysicist and field geologist with the state Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources.

"We came to realize that no matter where you are in the U.S. — even if it's Connecticut — if you drill deep enough you can reach temperatures that are usable for heat and electricity," Kelly told the Journal. "... That really shifted the perspective on geothermal development."

The challenge, however, has been lack of adequate drilling technology that could slice through hard rock to reach the necessary depths while also withstanding extreme subsurface temperatures that can shut down drilling equipment.

"Today's drilling technology allows developers to reach those deep depths," Kelly said. "It's a game changer."

Advancing the technology

Companies like Fervo and Eavor are now building on oil and gas drilling technology to develop techniques and methods specifically geared toward deep geothermal development.

Fervo, for example, has developed advanced data analytics using down-hole fiber optics to gather and analyze real-time data on flow, temperature and performance of geothermal resources, Singer said. That provides much greater insight into subsurface behavior, allowing the company to precisely identify where the best resources exist and optimize well performance.

Once the hole is drilled and fracked, the company pumps cold water down into the well bore, where it's heated to between 350 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit and then brought back to the surface to create steam to run a turbine generator.

Conventional wells that tap into existing hot water aquifers usually don't penetrate below 3,000 feet down, and those wells generally only produce between 200- and 300-degree heat. In contrast, Fervo is targeting rock formations at 8,000-10,000 feet down, providing much greater heat for more efficient and abundant generating capacity.

"Some companies are looking to drill extremely deep into extremely hot rock," Singer said. "We're not. We're targeting more moderate depths that allow us to use existing oil and gas drill bits and equipment."

Eavor, meanwhile, has created new technology to drill far deeper wells of up to 23,000 feet or more, Ethier said. That requires extreme temperature-resistant equipment with reinforced drill bits to break through hard granite rock.

To do that, it's created proprietary insulated drill pipes and partnered with industry vendors to design new drill bits. It's also developed advanced down-well control technology to precisely place liquid-filled pipes through two well bores that pump water down for heating at the geothermal resource and then bring it back up again.

And the entire process is contained in a novel, closed-loop system where the water being heated never leaves the underground or surface pipes. Rather, it absorbs heat from the hot-rock bed like a radiator, using horizontal drilling to place piping offshoots directly next to the geothermal resource, which then heats up the water inside the tubes before it's brought back to the surface.

"We have over 30 patents covering a lot of technology components, including proprietary software, hardware and system design," Ethier said.

Eavor directly tested most of its technology in the New Mexico Bootheel at a drill site located next to the Lightning Dock geothermal power plant near Lordsburg. That's the only conventional geothermal facility currently operating in the state.

"We met all our technology milestones," Ethier said.

Future employment opportunities

That test operation also demonstrated lucrative future employment potential for oil and gas industry workers. Two conventional drilling rigs were used on the project, which lasted from August to December last year.

"We had more than 50 people employed at the rig site throughout construction," Ethier said. "And that doesn't include local services we used for fuel and water delivery, or for sewage and garbage disposal. It was also a boon for local hotels and restaurants in the area."

As industry development gains momentum and companies begin drilling deeper wells for power plants, and for heating and cooling applications, a lot more employment opportunities could emerge for skilled oil and gas drilling crews, engineers and seasoned industry professionals.

In fact, most companies now pursuing modern geothermal development are largely run by former oil and gas executives and staffed by industry workers. Helmerich & Payne Inc., for example — an oil and gas drilling rig operator — is an investor in Eavor.

Global drilling company Baker Hughes also formed a partnership with two industry giants, Continental Resources and Chesapeake Energy, to test whether they can profitably turn spent natural gas wells into geothermal facilities, according to Politico. And Chevron New Energies, a subsidiary of Chevron Corp., is partnering with Sweden's Baseload Capital to develop new geothermal technologies, starting with a new project in Weepah Hills mountains in Nevada.

"We're not taking away from the oil and gas industry, but adding stability to it," Ethier said. "This can provide a just transition for energy diversification that offers other options for employment."

Forging ahead

Full-scale deployment of emerging geothermal technology — now called enhanced geothermal systems, or ESG — is still a few years off, but it's a lot closer that many think, Singer said.

"We're ready to deploy," she said. "This is not technology that needs to be reinvented, because the technology and skills are there. It's a matter of just starting to drill wells, and we're ready to go."

As momentum accelerates, it will allow drilling and development costs to decline through economies of scale and continuous technology and system efficiency improvement, making ESG more economical compared with fossil fuels like natural gas, Singer added.

"One reason for the shale gas revolution success was continuous drilling and constantly evolving technology and techniques to bring down costs," Singer said. "Geothermal has not yet experienced that, and it's what's needed."

Challenges remain. More temperature-resistant drilling technology, for example, is critical as wells go deeper, and a lot more subsurface research is needed to identify the best places for geothermal development.

Permitting issues could also cause problems, slowing development down the same way transmission projects are routinely held up through local, state and federal regulatory requirements that delay planning and construction for years.

But federal- and state-level investment and incentives can help with all those challenges. The U.S. Department of Energy announced in September a new "Energy Earthshot" to lower the costs for ESG by 90% to $45 per megawatt hour by 2035, which would make it significantly more affordable than today's prices for natural gas.

That includes $44 million in new investment's in ESG through the DOE's Frontier Observatory for Geothermal Energy Research laboratory in Utah, plus $84 million in funding under the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment law to support four ESG demonstration projects in different locations.

State-level initiatives like Ortiz y Pino's bills can also help. And apart from potential bipartisan legislative support, environmental organizations are getting on board, given geothermal's potential to provide clean backup power for intermittent solar and wind facilities as the state transitions from fossil fuels to renewables.

Some environmental activists took leading roles in Ortiz y Pino's working group, and environmental organizations are expected to firmly back the senator's bills in this year's session.

"It's such a great opportunity for us to supplement wind and solar in a sustainable fashion," Ortiz y Pino said. "Geothermal runs 24/7, 365 days a year. It doesn't go away, and it makes freeing ourselves from fossil fuels much more realistic."

Sandia National Laboratories' drilling research, long used by oil and gas firms, is being put to use for clean geothermal energy development

Sandia wants to make those efforts more efficient and less expensive.

TIME'S TRUE CRIME STORY
The University of Idaho Murders Show the Hidden Cost of America's True Crime Addiction

Solcyre Burga
Wed, January 25, 2023

Suspect Arrested For The Murders Of Four University Of Idaho Students

Bryan Kohberger, right, appears at a hearing in Latah County District Court in Moscow, Idaho, on January 5, 2023. Credit - Ted S. Warren—Getty Images

The public’s fascination with true crime has led to endless docu-series, podcasts and social media theories dedicated to infamous crimes and killers. But when an investigation is unfolding in real time, this obsession—especially when internet sleuths get involved—can have grim consequences for real people.

Most recently, the murders of four University of Idaho students who were found stabbed to death in an off-campus townhouse in the college town of Moscow, Idaho, became a breeding ground for misinformation with conspiracy theorists and amateur “detectives” dissecting the case on social media. On TikTok, the hashtag “Idaho murders”—and its many iterations—have collected more than one billion views with thousands of users posting updates and asking for answers.


TikTok lives and videos discussing different theories on who could be responsible for the gruesome slayings have spanned hours on the platform, especially in the weeks before suspect Bryan Kohberger, 28, was arrested.

While high-profile cases can garner the attention necessary to bring new tips forward, they can also endanger innocent people and be the cause of much misinformation.
Fake theories, real people

Rebecca Scofield, a University of Idaho professor was accused by TikToker Ashley Guillard (@ashleyisinthebookoflife) of involvement in the Idaho murders in a series of videos posted online. Scofield says the lies spread about her have caused safety issues for her and family.

Guillard, a self-proclaimed clairvoyant who uses her abilities “to help solve mysteries,” told her more than 115,000 followers on the app that Scofield was romantically involved with one of the victims and worked with another individual to commit the murders in more than 50 videos starting around Nov. 17.

Scofield served Guillard with two cease-and-desist letters that were ignored, even after police had charged and arrested Kohberger on Dec. 30. Scofield has since filed a lawsuit, citing emotional distress from the public attention caused by Guillard.

Although users on Guillard’s most recent videos began telling her to stop posting videos about Scofield—saying things like “You’re still doing this?!” and “none of this happened”—previous posts where Guillard defamed Scofield have amassed at least 2.5 million likes, according to the lawsuit.

Guillard declined an interview and did not respond to requests for comment.

In a statement to TIME, Scofield’s lawyer Wendy Olson said: “These untrue statements create safety issues for the Professor and her family. They also further compound the trauma that the families of the victims are experiencing and undermine law enforcement efforts to find the people responsible in order to provide answers to the families and the public.”

While Scofield has been the only one to take legal action, several others associated with the case have been accused online. Guillard also accused an ex-boyfriend of victim Kaylee Goncalves, of involvement in the crime. “He’s not only lost the love of his life,” his aunt told the New York Post, but “half of America” also believes he could be responsible for the murders.

A neighbor of the four University of Idaho students has also been wrongfully accused by social media users. He told NewsNation that people have been “ruthless” about getting information about his personal life. He added that he now carries a gun with him to get “that extra sense of security.”

“They’ve already contacted my friends asking questions about me,” he said. “And so who knows if someone’s gonna go so far as to try and confront me in person.”
A double-edged sword

David Schmid, an associate professor of English at the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences, says that public interest in high-profile cases can certainly bring forward attention and new information that can help investigators solve a case, but also comes with high costs.

In the Idaho murders case, Guillard is just one of many online personalities who has chosen to make accusations with little or no evidence.

On Dec. 9, weeks before Kohberger was arrested in connection with the murders, Moscow Police released a statement about the influx of information circulating online, saying they were “monitoring online activity” related to the case and were “aware of the large amount of rumors and misinformation being shared, as well as harassing and threatening behavior toward potentially involved parties.”

“Anyone engaging in threats or harassment whether in person, online or otherwise needs to understand that they could be subjecting themselves to criminal charges,” the department said in a Facebook post.

That is not to say all involvement in true crime is detrimental. Bystanders who were at nearby locations to Gabby Petito in the moments before her disappearance in September 2022 uploaded TikToks, photos and videos of their interactions with her and helped police narrow down their search efforts and ultimately find her body.

And in the Idaho case, the Moscow Police Department reports that they received more than 19,000 tips from the community as of Dec. 30 that were integral to arresting Bryan Kohberger, according to CBS News. They continue to ask for more tips related to the arrest of the primary suspect.

Schmid suggests that the best of internet sleuthing—deep diving into criminal cases online— is seen in projects like Serial, an investigative journalism podcast whose first season focused on the case of Adnan Syed, who was convicted of killing 18-year-old Hae Min Lee in 1999. With an average of more than 2 million listeners at the time of its release, Serial’s popularity undoubtedly played a role in Syed’s eventual release last October.

Citizen sleuthing into true crime can have dangerous impacts though. Serial, for instance, was made by experienced journalists who took measures to fact-check and share information in a manner that minimizes harm. TikTokers and others on social media, however, often have little basis for their claims. Yet with TikTok’s more than 1 billion users, they are able to reach vast numbers of people.

“[The internet] has a tremendous impact in terms of allowing people who ordinarily wouldn’t have access to media influence in any way, shape or form to provide input,” Schmid tells TIME. “In some cases, that’s been a very good thing, but like everything else, it’s a mixed bag.”

Schmid warns that the mass amount of information people have access to on a day-to-day basis often generates misinformation on a scale that is difficult to contain once it’s out. And because there is a lack of trust in traditional arbiters of information like the press and authorities, citizens feel that they have an equal right to comment and investigate.

Schmid believes social media companies should be responsible for taking down false accusations and misinformation in cases like the University of Idaho murders. “Obviously, the scale of the problem is so big you’re never going to be able to eliminate it entirely. But I think in cases like the one you’re discussing, where the damage being done is so egregious, I think deplatforming is a very good response to that,” Schmid tells TIME.

China, U.S. spar at WTO meeting over disputes

Fri, January 27, 2023
By Emma Farge

GENEVA (Reuters) -China and the United States exchanged sharp criticism at a World Trade Organization meeting on Friday, with Beijing calling Washington a "unilateral bully" and the U.S. accusing its rival of illegal retaliatory measures.

China's ambassador to the WTO Li Chenggang spoke at a meeting on trade disputes shortly after the United States lodged an appeal against a series of WTO rulings involving China, Turkey, Norway and Switzerland which found that U.S. metal tariffs breached global rules.

"These troubling behaviors of the U.S. have clearly depicted an image of the U.S. as a unilateral bully, a rule breaker, and a supply chain disruptor," he said, according to a copy of his speech obtained by Reuters.

The WTO has made important rulings against the United States in recent weeks, including the metals ruling involving China and a separate dispute with Hong Kong over labeling which Washington also appealed. Washington, which has long criticized the WTO dispute system for overreach and is leading discussions on reforming it, has criticized both rulings.

The United States said it regretted the metal tariffs dispute with China was even on the agenda at the meeting and accused Beijing of imposing "illegal unilateral retaliatory measures" on U.S. exports.

"A WTO that serves to shield China's non-market policies and practices is not in anyone's interest," said Deputy United States Trade Representative Maria Pagan, according to a copy of her speech.

The WTO will not be able to review Washington's appeal of the metals case because its top appeals bench is paralyzed after the United States blocked new judges.

"China would have hoped that the U.S. would show due self-restraint not to appeal every unfavorable panel report into the void, which the U.S. itself has created," Li said.

In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, Pagan played down the significance of more vocal criticism of Washington by China at WTO meetings. "You can call us whatever names you want," she said. "We are continuing to talk to China."

(Reporting by Emma Farge; Additional reporting by Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber; editing by Toby Chopra and Grant McCool)

Can India Take Advantage Of Its Enormous Green Energy Potential?

Editor OilPrice.com
Sat, January 28, 2023 at 3:00 PM MST·4 min read

“The world needs India to avert climate catastrophe,” a CNN headline blared late last year, before asking the crucial follow-up question: “Can Modi deliver?” India aims to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, but so far progress on climate goals has been uneven, to say the least. The South Asian nation’s decarbonization progress over the coming months and years can make or break the global fight to keep average temperatures at or below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial averages. India currently produces the third-most carbon dioxide emissions in the world, after China and the United States.

As India has industrialized and its population has continued to grow, the subcontinent’s energy needs have skyrocketed. According to figures from the International Energy Agency, Indian energy consumption has more than doubled since the year 2000, and over 900 million Indians have gained access to electricity over the last two decades. And the country is just starting its development journey. India’s federal power ministry projects that national electricity demand will expand by up to 6% every year for the next ten years. India is on track to overtake China as the most populous country in the world, and it has already established itself as a major economic and cultural force on the global stage.

India also has some of the greatest potential for green energy production in the world, creating a massive opportunity for Modi’s India to place itself at the forefront of the green energy revolution and give the economy – currently bogged down by high energy prices on the global market – a major boost. According to a brand new report from the Global Energy Monitor, India is in the top seven countries for prospective renewable power. The country already has plans for gargantuan solar and wind farms in the works, and if the country’s planned buildout of 76 gigawatts of solar and wind power by 2025 comes to fruition, it will successfully avoid the use of almost 78 million tons of coal per year, leading to savings of up to 1.6 trillion rupees ($19.5 billion) annually.

While these projects are a major step forward for India, and the savings could serve as a major incentive to keep going, getting to carbon neutrality by 2070 is going to take a lot more investment – and a lot more grit. While green energy is gaining a foothold in India, it’s going to be very, very difficult to wean the subcontinent off of coal. India depends on fossil fuels for 70% of its energy mix, with coal taking the lion’s share. According to figures from ember-data, India installed 168 gigawatts of coal-fired generation from 2001 to 2021, almost double the addition of solar and wind energy combined over the same period.

At present, just 10% of India’s energy mix comes from renewable energies, and the country missed its 2022 target to install 175 gigawatts of renewable energy to the total level of domestic power production. Only four out of India’s 28 states met their renewable energy targets last year. What’s more, most of them failed by a discouragingly wide margin. “Most states have installed less than 50% of their targets and some states such as West Bengal have installed only 10% of their target,” the Associated Press reported this week. The country’s next target is to install a total of 450 gigawatts of clean energy by 2030, and meeting this is going to require a massive acceleration of India’s current rate of renewable capacity buildout.

For all of India’s investing and pledging related to building out green energy, the reality is that India just isn’t ready to give up on coal. At COP26 in Glasgow, India led a last-minute charge to change language related to phasing out coal in the conference's final joint agreement. This move highlighted the tightrope that Modi currently has to walk: India has to phase out coal for the benefit of the climate and its international diplomacy, but it also can’t sacrifice its own development and growth. For many developing countries, the current pressure to rapidly decarbonize their economies feels a lot like having to pay for the first world’s sins. Developed countries have burned fossil fuels with little to no recompense for over a century, and have robust economies to show for it. India wants its chance to do the same – an understandable enough sentiment, but a sentiment that could have devastating consequences for the entire world, now and in future generations.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

Putin discusses Russia's claim to giant chunk of Arctic Ocean seabed

Fri, January 27, 2023

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin held talks on Friday with top security officials about the status of Russia's efforts to legally expand the outer boundaries of its continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean.

Russia in 2021 filed a submission to the United Nations seeking to redefine its continental shelf, which is believed to contain vast untapped reservoirs of oil and gas. Moscow said at the time it wanted much more Arctic seabed, a move that has implications for Canada and Denmark who have their own claims.

A continental shelf is defined under international law as an area of typically shallow water bordering a country's shoreline that is considered an extension of its territory, allowing the country to exploit its natural resources.

"We have several important issues today, colleagues, concerning both the domestic agenda and the issue of the outer limit of Russia's continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean. Let's get to work," the Kremlin website cited Putin as saying.

The Kremlin did not immediately provide further details about the meeting, which was attended by several high-ranking officials, including Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Sergei Naryshkin, the foreign intelligence chief.

Russia's neighbours in the Arctic have become increasingly concerned about Moscow's ambitions in the strategically important region since it sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February last year.

NATO member states have ramped up Arctic military exercises in recent years, as Russia has expanded and renewed its military infrastructure in the region.

(Reporting by Caleb Davis and Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Andrew Osborn.)

‘I will not be silent’: Biden calls for end to hate in White House’s first Lunar New Year celebration




Carl Samson
Fri, January 27, 2023 

President Joe Biden hosted the White House’s first Lunar New Year reception on Thursday, assuring Asian Americans of his support on the heels of mass shootings that have affected the community in the past week.

“It's wonderful to see so many friends on this special holiday, even as we gather with such heavy hearts,” Biden said in his opening remarks. “Our prayers are with the people of Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay, and after yet another spree of gun violence in America.”

The president admitted to having doubts about proceeding with the celebration, but he was encouraged by Rep. Judy Chu — who represents Monterey Park — to push through.

“She said, ‘We have to move forward,’” Biden shared. “Her message was ‘Don't give into fear and sorrow. Don’t do that. Stand in solidarity — in the spirit of toughness that this holiday is all about.’”

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Eleven people died as a result of Saturday’s shooting at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in California’s Monterey Park. The venue had just hosted its own Lunar New Year celebrations.

On Monday afternoon, a pair of mass shootings at Half Moon Bay mushroom farms killed seven people, who were reported to be of Asian and Hispanic descent.

The suspect in the Monterey Park shooting was found dead from an apparent suicide, while the shooter in the Half Moon Bay massacre has been arrested and charged. Authorities are still determining the motives in both cases.

More from NextShark: 'I will continue to be brave': Surviving WWII Filipino 'comfort women' fight for recognition, apology

In his speech, Biden insisted that hate has no place in the U.S.

“Yet for all the progress, this community has experienced profound hate, pain, and violence and loss. As I’ve said before, hate can have no safe harbor in America. No person deserves to be treated in a hateful way,” he said.

The president signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act in May 2021. Last week, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders launched the first-ever “National Strategy to Advance Equity, Justice and Opportunity for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Communities.”

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Biden vowed to continue speaking up for the community.

“Silence is complicity. We cannot be silent. I will not be silent,” he said.

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Civil rights groups file lawsuit to block Newsom's plan for treating people with mental illness

Hannah Wiley
Thu, January 26, 2023

Gov. Gavin Newsom's CARE Court plan will order mental health and addiction treatment for thousands of Californians. (Office of the California Governor)

A coalition of disability and civil rights advocates filed a lawsuit Thursday asking the California Supreme Court to block the rollout of Gov. Gavin Newsom's far-reaching new plan to address severe mental illness by compelling treatment for thousands of people.

In their filing, representatives from three organizations — Disability Rights California, Western Center on Law and Poverty and the Public Interest Law Project — asked the state's high court to strike down as unconstitutional the program known as CARE Court (for Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment). The groups argue that the sweeping new court system will violate due process and equal protection rights under the state constitution, while "needlessly burdening fundamental rights to privacy, autonomy and liberty."

Newsom announced CARE Court in March as a new strategy to help an estimated 7,000 to 12,000 Californians struggling with severe mental health disorders like schizophrenia access housing, treatment and mental health services. It was signed into law in September as Senate Bill 1338.

In a statement, Newsom's deputy communications director Daniel Lopez said efforts to delay or block the law's implementation "would needlessly extend the suffering of those who desperately need our help."

“The governor — along with the majority of Californians — are beyond frustrated by the conditions seen daily on our streets. There’s nothing compassionate about allowing individuals with severe, untreated mental health and substance use disorders to suffer in our alleyways, in our criminal justice system, or worse — face death," Lopez said. "While some groups want to delay progress with arguments in favor of the failing status quo, the rest of us are dealing with the cold, hard reality that something must urgently be done to address this crisis."

CARE Court is scheduled to be rolled out in two phases: Orange, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Stanislaus, Glenn and Tuolumne Counties have until Oct. 1 of this year to begin implementation, with Los Angeles County on track to join two months later. The rest of the state has until December 2024.

A funding measure for CARE Court initially set aside $88 million to begin implementation. Newsom included an additional $52 million in his budget proposal this year to help counties and courts kick start the program, with the eventual plan to ramp up funding to $215 million by fiscal year 2025-2026.

The governor's office has also pointed to billions of dollars more available in existing state spending accounts for housing, homelessness, behavioral and mental health programs, though counties have long questioned whether that will be enough.

Dozens of cities and mayors supported the plan, along with business organizations and groups representing families of affected loved ones who said CARE Court might finally offer them another option for help.

The new law will allow family members, first responders, medical professionals and behavioral health providers, among others, to petition a judge to order an evaluation of an adult with a diagnosed psychotic disorder. If a person qualifies, a CARE plan could include medication and treatment services and housing if needed. Newsom has been careful to distinguish CARE Court from the more restrictive conservatorship, because those who qualify could still technically refuse to participate.

But those caveats have done little to soften strong opposition from the coalition that filed the lawsuit, which joined the ACLU and several other racial and civil rights groups, homeless advocates and affordable housing organizations in trying to block the measure last year. Critics argued that CARE Court was a misguided approach for solving an issue that needed more significant investments in permanent housing and voluntary treatment services.

"The proposed solution is court orders that rob unhoused Californians of their autonomy to choose their own mental health treatment and housing and threatens their liberty," the filing stated. "This 'solution' will not work and will deprive thousands of people of their constitutional rights."

The coalition said it filed the lawsuit directly to the state Supreme Court in an effort to expedite timing for a decision. Lawsuits initially filed in lower courts can take more time given that rulings are often appealed.

But the groups could still refile their petition in a lower court should the Supreme Court decide not to take the case, said Sarah Gregory, senior attorney at Disability Rights California.

"[Disability Rights California] has considered all options on the table since the beginning," Gregory said, "and it will continue to consider all options depending on what the Supreme Court decides."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Mayor Adams claims right-to-shelter law does not apply to NYC asylum seekers; critics pounce


Chris Sommerfeldt, Michael Gartland, New York Daily News
Wed, January 25, 2023 at 10:57 AM MST·6 min read

Just days before his administration is expected to open its newest migrant relief center, Mayor Adams rejected Wednesday the idea that asylum seekers are protected by the city’s right-to-shelter law.

His take on the issue, his firmest stance yet on how right-to-shelter rules affect the city’s management of its migrant crisis, prompted an almost immediate backlash from both elected officials and advocates.

Adams brought up the matter Wednesday morning during an appearance on WABC’s “Sid & Friends” show after being asked if he’d ever consider scrapping the Big Apple’s status as a sanctuary city for immigrants.

“When we talk about a sanctuary city, that is codified in law,” he said. “The courts ruled that this is a sanctuary city. We have a moral and legal obligation to fulfill that.”

But on the right-to-shelter question, Adams took a different tack.

“We don’t believe asylum seekers fall into the whole right-to-shelter conversation,” the mayor said. “This is a crisis that must be addressed based on what was created on this national platform.”

His assessment of the right-to-shelter question when it comes to migrants is perhaps his clearest public statement on the matter to date — and it comes as the city continues its struggle to accommodate more than 41,000 migrants, most of them Latin Americans, who have flooded into the five boroughs since last spring.

Last week, Adams’ administration announced it will “soon” open a new so-called Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Red Hook with capacity for 1,000 people. The exact timing for when the megashelter will open is unclear, but a source briefed on the matter said it could be as early as this week.

Immigration advocates have panned the Red Hook plan, noting the site is in a flood zone while also raising questions about whether the facility would be up to snuff with the right-to-shelter law. In addition to requiring the city to provide shelter to anyone who needs it, the law stipulates that beds must be at least 6 feet apart and people must have access to lockers and laundry services, among other requirements.

When Adams spoke about right-to-shelter in September, he remarked that the city’s application of the law “must be reassessed” because “the city’s system is nearing its breaking point.”

But the Coalition for the Homeless and the Legal Aid Society, which criticized Adams for violating the right-to-shelter law last year, suggested the results of the mayor’s apparent reassessment may land him in legal hot water.

“Flouting the law would accomplish nothing and such a move would only land this administration in front of a judge for contempt,” the groups said Wednesday in a statement responding to Adams’ radio appearance. “The mayor must clarify his remarks from this morning immediately.”

Earlier in the day, Joshua Goldfein, an attorney with Legal Aid’s Homeless Rights Project, offered more specifics in pushing back against Adams’ claim that right-to-shelter standards don’t apply to housing migrants.

“The mayor’s statement is plainly wrong,” Goldfein told the Daily News, adding that the consent decree that established right-to-shelter does not include exceptions for asylum seekers. “The mayor’s frustrated. We’re all frustrated with the federal government’s slow pace of addressing this issue. But I’m hopeful that he misspoke and didn’t mean to say it in the way he said it. The law is very clear.”

Goldfein added that it’s also counterproductive for the city to task the Emergency Management Department with running the migrant relief centers and suggested the Homeless Services Department should be doing it instead.

“They have an agency that provides shelter, and for whatever reason they’ve decided to set up a new system that can accommodate some, but not all people,” he said. “They’re trying to reinvent the wheel, which is consuming a lot of time, energy and money.”

City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a progressive Democrat who has been tempered in his criticism of Adams, also blasted the mayor’s comments.

“While it is clear that the current situation is unsafe, unsustainable, and in dire need of state and federal support, this is not a justification to abandon our legal and moral obligation to provide quality shelter to people — all people — most in need,” the public advocate said.

Earlier this week, Adams said at a news conference that the city is “compliant” with right-to-shelter rules, and that when it isn’t, “we’re hoping that the advocates will bring it to our attention.”

But after the latest round of criticism, Adams spokesman Fabien Levy said Legal Aid’s “suggestion that the city is flouting its legal obligations couldn’t be further from the truth.”

“If this humanitarian crisis was simply a right-to-shelter issue, then only New York City would bear the responsibility for providing for these individuals,” Levy said before renewing the mayor’s call for more help from the federal government to shelter and provide services for migrants. “New York City is doing its part; now we need everyone else to do theirs.”

During his radio spot Wednesday, the mayor was asked if he’ll ever start calling out President Biden by name while pointing fingers at the feds for the migrant crisis.

“Yelling and screaming is not going to solve the problem,” he responded. But he added that better coordination is needed at the border. “That is a responsibility that the White House must do,” he said. “I’ve made that clear over and over again.”

Adams elaborated on that idea minutes earlier during an appearance on MSNBC, saying it is still unclear to him who’s coordinating the federal response to the influx of migrants crossing over the southern border.

“I was told that we have an individual that’s coordinating the operation,” he said, without elaborating on who imparted that information. “And as I shared with White House officials, why don’t I know who that is?”

Earlier this month, Adams said he wanted a “national czar” to oversee the federal government’s response to the migrant crisis — even though Vice President Kamala Harris has been tasked with the job since March 2021.

Adams didn’t mention Harris or Biden by name in relation to the migrant crisis during either of his Wednesday morning interviews. After they concluded, Levy clarified that Adams wasn’t referring to the position Harris now holds but a different post more focused on day-to-day operations and logistics.

Xcel to install Form’s long-duration batteries at retiring coal plants



Julian Spector
Fri, January 27, 2023 

Back in late 2018, utility Xcel Energy got out in front of its peers in pledging to eliminate carbon emissions from its electricity production by 2050. But the company made a crucial admission. It could cut 80 percent of emissions by 2030 with existing renewables and battery technology, but getting to 100 percent would require tools “that are not cost-effective or commercially available today.”

On Thursday, Xcel unveiled its first contract for one of those breakthrough clean-energy technologies. The eight-state utility signed “definitive agreements” to install two novel iron-air battery systems from extremely well-funded startup Form Energy, which aims to make clean power available for days on end. Xcel will place these long-duration energy storage systems at two different coal plants slated for retirement — Comanche Generating Station in Pueblo, Colorado, and Sherburne County Generating Station in Becker, Minnesota.

The scope and scale of the projects make them a crucial test case in the effort to shore up power grids that are adding cheap but variable wind and solar production while shutting down large fossil-fueled plants. It’s also the biggest proof point yet for Form, which launched in 2017 to invent storage devices that cost-effectively store and deliver clean energy over long periods of time, in a way that’s not possible with current battery technology.

“Getting started with Xcel early means we can start to deliver in a valuable way to their system before 2030,” Form co-founder and CEO Mateo Jaramillo told Canary Media Thursday. “We understand pretty crisply what their portfolio will look like getting to 2030, and we definitely see value as they get there and we build up our production capacity.”

Each Form project will provide 10 megawatts of instantaneous power for up to 100 hours, meaning they each will store a total of 1,000 megawatt-hours. That makes them small relative to other grid-scale batteries in terms of how much power they can deliver in one moment, but they’ll be among the largest in the world in terms of the total amount of energy they can store.

However enormous the size of the proverbial tank, this is still a trial run for the technology. To fully replace the outgoing coal plants, Xcel will need more power capacity. But these long-duration storage units are big enough to give Xcel a “meaningful” test of the technology in real field conditions, Jaramillo said.

“It allows them to put a first commercial demonstration at two very relevant sites in their service territory and think about scaling it from there,” he noted. The projects, slated to come online in 2025, are 10 times more powerful than Form’s first scheduled installation, for Minnesota utility Great River Energy in 2024.

Several things need to happen before this vision becomes reality, however. Form is still commercializing its product, so the company needs to wrap up its internal quality validation and complete external certification for relevant safety standards. Form also needs to build the factory that will produce the iron-air batteries; the company chose the former steel town of Weirton, West Virginia as the home for this facility. Gov. Jim Justice (R) endorsed the vision in a December press conference and supports a package of state incentives to get the factory online.

The deal with Xcel has been years in the making, Jaramillo said. “We knew that there was clear alignment from the executive team all the way down” after the company pledged to eliminate carbon emissions from its power production, he noted.

The two companies have another point of common interest: Xcel is a backer of Energy Impact Partners, a venture capital fund that raised money from utilities to invest in cleantech startups tackling important energy-related challenges. EIP has invested in Form multiple times, including the $240 million Series D from 2021. Form topped that beefy fundraise with $450 million raised in October 2022.

Many startups claim to be building long-duration storage, but Form has little competition in the realm of delivering clean energy for 100 hours or more. Another startup, Noon Energy, is in the early stages of pursuing this goal, and just raised a $28 million Series A to commercialize its laboratory prototype of a battery that uses carbon dioxide to store energy.