Batteries in Our “Green” Future…

I began part one of this article by referring to the habit of putting batteries in my kids Christmas stockings for all the little things that need batteries in our lives. And I used this memory as a stepping off point to discuss the importance of batteries in our Green Future. But the holiday is over, and the New Year is here, literally. So now it’s time to face the music and take a hard look at our Green Future and why batteries take such a strong (and weak) position in this future. What did I call them? The “Achilles Heel” of our Green Future.

A Generalized “Green Future”

The need for a Green Future, which could be generally agreed as a future with:

is becoming more and more apparent as a necessity. The global weather patterns have been changing dramatically over the last few years, the matter of waste management is apparent as we have “plastic islands” in the oceans, and the basic need for cleaner air and water for our communities health are all news-worthy examples of the need for a greener future. These are generalized statements I am comfortable making without reference. I will also add that I discussed a few of these ideas with some depth in my first article, Brother Bob’s 50 Year Apocalyptic Plan. But let’s stay on topic: how do batteries themselves play such an important role in our Green Future?

Seeing as part one hit on the history of batteries and their construction needs, let’s get into some greener topics in this article.

Batteries Have Lagged in Advancement

Let’s keep in mind the technological advancements that we have made, in terms of electrical circuitry, have been HUGE since the creation of the first computers in the 1940’s, by the trillions in terms of computational speed. Contrast that change to the minute changes in the battery. A “Tesla lithium-ion battery stores only roughly six times as much charge, per pound, as a lead acid electric car battery of 1920.” This HUGE contrast in advancement is causing issues for our future technology. “Battery technology may be the keystone of the energy transition, facilitating the decarbonization of the transportation sector while providing a critical backstop for intermittent solar and wind generation in power generation. But the widely used lithium-ion battery may not be up to the task of carrying the future of the global green economy.”

Why Batteries?

WHY are batteries so important in a global “greener” economy? After all, electric cars are not “new”, having been around almost as long as the battery has, and the use of wind and water for energy sources has been around for millennia as windmills and dams. So, again, WHY are batteries so important for our greener future?

The electricity we use in our homes, businesses and production facilities comes from a continuous source on our archaic power grid, see part one. Any and all of our electrical appliances require this steady supply of flowing electrons to “work”, whatever that work is. So, we need a power source to supply that. We discussed batteries previously as “small chemical reactors, with the reaction producing energetic electrons, ready to flow through the external device.” This is small scale.

Standard Power Plants

For large scale electricity supplies, we rely on standard power plants. Today’s power plants, which ironically also hail from the 1880’s, commonly use fossil fuel products to generate electricity, which can then power entire cities. Dat’s a’lotta electricity! There are other common sources for large scale power plants, such as hydroelectric and nuclear, but these are not “new” sources that are considered overly green. Dams have effects on the rivers and the surrounding environment, and nuclear has the nasty problem of radioactive waste once the rods are spent… And let’s not forget the possibility of a nuclear melt-down. Ask the Russians and Japanese about that. Oh yeah… Ask the Pennsylvanians as well.

Green Power Plants?

All of the power plants mentioned above can supply a steady source of electricity, depending on the demand. Can the “greener” solar and wind power provide large scale energy? We know about homes and businesses with solar panels and the random collection of large windmills spread across the country, but how about supplying for large cities?

There’s a problem, though, with solar and wind as a continuous source of electricity… They’re not continuous. The sun shines for a maximum of 12 hours per day, location dependent, and the wind blows sporadically. Therefore, other power sources are needed OR you need a large enough battery to store power while your energy source is offline. In terms of large solar farms, electricity can be sent directly to the local power grid, thereby providing part of the energy mix for the local utility. But emphasis on “part”. The solar farm would provide nothing at night. Wind farms work the same basic way; the wind turbines generate the electricity when the conditions are right, which is then sent on to the power grid.

Offshore Wind Farms Can!

The only exception to the inconsistency of solar and wind farming is offshore wind farms. Because of the pressure differences between air masses over land vs sea, winds along the coastlines tend to be very consistent and can therefore provide consistent “greener” electricity.

Battery Power or Power Plant?

So it seems that we are back to the initial problem of needing a battery to store energy for our greener energy sources… Unless you live near a shoreline that can provide you with consistent wind energy, you will need some sort of power source for when the greener solar and wind supply is down. Ergo, you need a battery, or remain attached to the power grid.

Are Batteries a “Green” Power Source?

Since batteries seem to be required for the greener energy sources described above, and not just for our transportation, communication, toys, etc… Are the batteries themselves actually all that green? No, they’re not.

As of right now, fossil fuels are the #1 big-bad-monster of the environmentalist world. Ergo, anything that is NOT dependent on fossil fuels directly is seen as a better alternative. That’s why electric vehicles that use batteries are being touted as “green”. Using solar panels, like you see on rooftops, or having your own private wind turbine is seen as green, even though the use of batteries is required if you want to remain off the power grid.

Mining for Metals

In part one, I discussed the basic construction of batteries and the fact that the metals needed to make batteries are mined. Mining is a double edged sword. Mining is essential for providing resources, yet has varied environmental ramifications.

Mining requires large amounts of water for various purposes, which affects local access to fresh water, OR the runoff from the mine tailings can contaminate local water sources. “Mining tailings are the materials left behind after the economically valuable fraction of material has been extracted. These materials are often stored in large tailings dams to prevent environmental damage as tailings are often radioactive, toxic or acidic.”

Secondary effects of mining cause “land use change…, not only from drilling and excavating open pit mines but also the changes that occur as result of the development of surrounding infrastructure.” Deforestation and road building, as well as the development of poorly planned small mining communities can have devastating effects on the local ecological systems. In addition, underground mining can cause surface subsidence and lower the water table. “This dewatering can dry up springs, cut off rivers and degrade local ecosystems.”

So the mining of the metals used in our “green” batteries are not environmental. Check.

Battery Lifespan?

Does the lifespan of these bigger batteries make using them worthwhile? Standard lithium batteries have a life span of 2-3 years. The larger electric car batteries have an average eight year warranty, so an electric car owner could expect about 8-12 years out of one battery. Not bad on the car batteries, yet the issue still stands that the making of the battery is not “green”. Solar panels and wind turbines have an even longer lifespan of 20-30 years. The issue then becomes what to do after that lifespan with the old, spent batteries, panels and turbines? Is recycling easy and readily available?

Battery Recycling?

The standard rechargeable smaller battery, like AAs, can be recycled. “Recycling rechargeable batteries helps to keep them out of landfills, but batteries usually aren’t accepted through curbside recycling programs or at municipal recycling facilities.” This means that the individual user must make the effort to recycle the battery. From personal experience, this is not always user friendly.

Electric car batteries have the same basic issue; not easy to recycle and not financially profitable. “Recycling electric car batteries are important for two reasons. First, it keeps the batteries from ending up in landfills. In this way, the potential of toxic leaks will reduce. Second, it prevents burning the batteries, which may pollute the air.” So, batteries can be recycled. But the process is not easy or financially profitable, ergo most electric car batteries probably won’t be recycled. Bottom line? Money. “Because it is still less expensive, in most instances, to mine metals than to recycle them, a key goal is to develop processes to recover valuable metals cheaply enough to compete with freshly mined ones. “The biggest talker is money.””

So, for now, recycling is not a ready answer, therefore batteries are not very environmental. Check.

Solar and Wind Recycling…

For an additional touch of irony… The manufacturing of a solar panel is “toxic” in it’s choice of materials, much like a battery. And since recycling is, again, not financially profitable, discarded solar panels will cause future waste issues. Wind turbines will also create issues once the turbine is old. “The sheer size of the windmills and the difficulty of disposing of them at recycling stations led [to the conclusion] that each new wind farm is a “towering promise of future wreckage.””

Battery Metals are Finite

Since the metals in batteries are not recyclable, they are NOT a renewable resource. Mining is the only way to get the needed raw metals. But there is a catch to this as well, which I touched on in part one… The catch is that on this big blue marble that we call home, there is a finite, fixed amount of metals available to us. And it would appear that we are running out of the needed metals for our current technological and civilized societies. “While the planet’s natural metal resources are vast, they’re not infinite, and some metals will disappear at a faster rate than others if we don’t do something about it. And, despite the Earth containing huge amounts of metals, we’re unable to access most of them because they’re so deep underground.”

So batteries contain NON-renewable materials and are therefore not environmental. Check.

Are Batteries our Achilles Heel? Yes.

Are batteries are the “Achilles Heel”, our weak point, of our greener future? Yes, it would seem so.

Are Batteries Important to our Green Future? Yes.

It can also be argued that batteries ARE a strong point on our path to going greener and getting us away from our heavy use of fossil fuels. We have to start somewhere, and batteries can provide “adequate storage of the energy produced by renewable sources such as solar and wind… [Batteries are] seen as the ‘missing link’ that’s required to power a future without dependence on fossil fuels.”

The Future…

The future of battery technology does show promise. New metals and non metals are being looked into, “air” batteries, “salt” batteries, squeeze and sound charging of batteries, and even pee batteries. Yep, you read that right! Let’s hear it for creative use of “materials”!

We the Consumer…

And as the simple consumer of at the end of all this battery production and technological advancements… What can we do? We can recycle. We can promote recycling locally. We can insist on buying recycled materials, not just recycled battery and technology parts, but recycled glass, metals, fabrics, wood products. A Green Future is not just in energy production, but in better waste management as well. “After a century of heavy industrial activity, we also have a wealth of human waste products full of reclaimable elements: wastewater, discarded consumer electronics and even pollution in the atmosphere. Technologies that scientists are developing to clean up these wastes can literally turn trash into treasure. “If you’re going to remove it, why not recover it?””

Reduce, Reuse (Upcycle), Recycle. These are the steps to take on a path to a Greener Future. Let’s leave a little something for our kids, our grand-kids, and our plant and animal neighbors as well. Here’s to a Happy New Year in 2023. Blessings!

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