...AND CHEAPER...:

The Salton Sea is a land-locked salt lake in the California desert. As odd as it sounds, the salty, superheated water reservoir below the surface promises to provide an abundance of geothermal energy. This renewable energy is produced when hot fluids are brought up from deep down, and the heat is converted to electricity.

"The potential is there for - again, back-of-the-envelope calculations - something like 50 to 100 years' worth of lithium production."

Currently, 11 commercial facilities are producing energy in the Salton Sea geothermal field. Once the fluid is cooled, it is typically returned to its origins deep underground. But many scientists hope to get an energy two-for-one -- by extracting lithium from it first. 

The deep-earth chemicals beneath the Salton Sea could contain enough lithium to cover all of America's domestic battery demands. 

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