Telluride Science Town Talk: “A Solution to Clean Energy’s Reliance on Dirty Magnets,” 7/23!

17 Jul Telluride Science Town Talk: “A Solution to Clean Energy’s Reliance on Dirty Magnets,” 7/23!

This coming week the 2024 Telluride Science Town Talks series continues with Dr. Peter Ladwig. His subject is titled “A Solution to Clean Energy’s Reliance on Dirty Magnets.

The event takes place Tuesday, July 23, 6:30 pm; doors, 6 p.m., at the Telluride Conference Center in Mountain Village.

Town Talks are FREE and open to the public.

Note: Telluride Science is committed to expanding its public outreach programming. This summer, the non-profit is hosting the greatest number of Town Talks held to date, a total of nine. All Town Talks take place the Telluride Conference Center. 

Visit telluridescience.org to learn more about Telluride Science and the capital campaign to transform the historic Telluride Depot into the Telluride Science & Innovation Center. The venue is soon to be a permanent home for Telluride Science and a global hub of inspired knowledge exchange and development where great minds get to solve great challenges. The public is welcome to the venue’s official opening on Saturday, July 20.

The 2024 Telluride Science Town Talks series is being presented by Alpine Bank with additional support from the Telluride Mountain Village Owner’s Association.

Go here for more about Telluride Science. (back to 2009).

Go here for more on Town Talks.

The cell phone in your pocket.

The magnet on your fridge.

The speaker in your computer.

What do they all have in common?

Short answer: we interact with each of them every single day and they all rely on one tiny, seemingly insignificant piece of technology: permanent magnets.

Permanent magnets are an essential component in all electric technology and have, according to Dr. Peter Ladwig, “single-handedly” defined the transition from mechanical to electrical energy.

On July 23, Dr. Ladwig gives a Telluride Science Town Talk. His subject: “A Solution to Clean Energy’s Reliance on Dirty Magnets.” Ladwig’s mission has been and remains to tirelessly work on alternatives for the day-to-day production of electricity.

As the horrific impact of human-caused climate change accelerates, so has the production of and demand for permanent magnets or devices that retain their magnetic properties indefinitely, even without the presence of an external magnetic field. Due to that quality, they are the only magnets (right now…) that can assist in the production of electricity on a small scale.

Of course, any switch away from mechanical energy is ultimately the right call. We have to stop carbon emissions somehow! But consider the following before purchasing your first electric vehicle or investing in a fancy hydroelectric plant.

Most permanent magnets on the market are created using material composed of “rare earth elements” like neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium. Extracting and purifying these elements is an environmental disaster, creating thousands upon thousands of kilograms of waste every day. As the supply of these elements depletes and the mining process grows more expensive, countries around the world are trying to reduce their costs, which amplifies the negative environmental impact over time. The resulting toxic waste is nearly impossible to dispose of and very expensive to clean up, therefore most countries consolidate their mining efforts in low-income, high-risk countries.

Moreover, China owns more than 90% of all rare earth mines worldwide, creating the potential for geopolitical conflict as the value of these elements grows. However, no need to completely panic yet… Dr. Ladwig, Vice President of Research & Development at Niron Magnetics, hopes to create the world’s first sustainable alternative to rare earth elements.

The ultimate goal of Niron Magnetics is to completely eliminate the destructive mining process required to create permanent magnets and “enable mass production of high-performance, permanent magnets based entirely on abundant, sustainable input materials.”

The material Dr. Ludwig’s team is creating uses iron and nitrogen to form a nitrate powder, which will be used to deploy their patented Clean Earth Magnet, “the world’s first commercial, high-performance, rare-earth, free permanent magnets.”

The growing success of Dr. Ladwig and his team has not gone unnoticed as his magnet was named Time Magazine’s Best Invention of 2023. The accolade is well-deserved as solutions to Earth’s climate crisis are rare gifts.

Peter Ladwig, more:

Dr. Ladwig, courtesy Telluride Science.

Peter Ladwig received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Marquette University, obtained an MBA from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, and earned his Ph.D in Materials Science from the University of Wisconsin.

Ladwig has over 20 years of experience leading engineering teams in global high-tech markets and leads Niron Magnetics nanoparticle research and development efforts.

Dr. Ladwig is a co-inventor on 33 granted US Patents with dozens of international patents and has served as a U.S. Department of Energy technical reviewer on several projects over the last 15 years.