🔋 BATTERIES: Argonne National Laboratory has made progress on better performing lithium-ion batteries with a new anode material. The material had been developed for sodium-ion batteries, but it is showing promise with increasing the energy capacity in lithium-ion batteries.

🌽 BIOFUELS: Researchers at a University of Missouri innovation lab are transitioning away from their usual work of designing better roads and stronger bridges and instead producing ethanol-based hand sanitizer during the pandemic.

A ‘corny’ solution to help fight the spread of the novel coronavirus from Mizzou News on Vimeo.

🔌UTILITIES:

• A new report (PDF) offers recommendations for speeding up Wisconsin’s transition to clean energy, reports Wisconsin Public Radio. The paper compiles a year’s worth of input from electricity sector stakeholders and highlights new technologies with potential to simultaneously reduce utilities’ carbon footprints and boost economic development.
• Utility smart solution supplier Aclara, based in St. Louis, won a contract to implement an advanced metering infrastructure network for Pedernales Electric Cooperative in Texas.

🎉 PRODUCT LAUNCH: Doosan Bobcat North America, based in West Fargo, North Dakota, is partnering with Green Machine Equipment to produce an electric/hydraulic compact excavator. Battery technology will replace the standard diesel power source.

***SPONSORED LINK: The Cleanie Awards — the #1 awards program in clean technology — is now accepting applications! Submit to win, or contact us with any questions. Applications close July 30.***

DIVERSITY: Missouri is among the top 10 states with the highest rate of women inventor-patentees, according to a report from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Still, the state’s rate is less than 15%, in line with the national average of 14.2%.

💰 FUNDING: The Illinois Innovation Network awarded seed funding grants Monday to four research projects aimed to improve sustainability and resilience, including technologies related to vertical farming and waste conversion.

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