The Powerhouse

For all the global obsession with oil that has marked the past decades, the real future of energy might be something quite different. An advanced lithium-ion battery could power our electric cars and help relieve climate change. But the race is on in laboratories all over the world to be the first to solve this scientific enigma -- and the United States may not necessarily be the winner.

Steve Levine, Washington correspondent for *Quartz,* will discuss his new book, The Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World, with Andrew Revkin, senior fellow at Pace University's Pace Academy for Applied Environmental Studies and author of the New York Times' Dot Earth blog. They will explore how geopolitics, competition, and the scientists themselves could shape technology's next great watershed.