We came across a post by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) on August 7, 2023 that looked really interesting. Their writer wanted to know what better batteries were like, stripped of the marketing jargon common to our industry. Building better batteries takes us beyond traditional boundaries he believes. We therefore need to think laterally and be open to all the alternatives.
Building Supercharged Batteries for a Better Future
We already rely on batteries to power our electronic devices, without which life might never be the same again. However, the NRDC contributor believes we need to focus on far more than just that to combat global warming.
We may already be building better batteries he concedes. But we need more powerful ones able to store vastly more energy. This would enable us to cope with the demands of a changing climate, as we move towards a decarbonized economy.
Shifting across to a carbon-free economy involves no longer generating electricity by burning fossil fuels. The only proven way to do so on a large scale rapidly involves using renewable wind and solar power, and for this we need large storage batteries.
But We Also Need the Materials to Do So
Global grid-scale battery storage seems set to increase four-times by 2030. At the same time, electric vehicles will approach a third of all automobile sales. We clearly need to start building better batteries to meet this challenge, and cap the global temperature rise at under 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The NRDC writer does not believe more battery material mining is the answer. Reasons for this include the cost of human and environmental health, the consumption of water, and the electricity demand. Therefore we need to recycle what we have already taken from the ground. We follow up in the next post.
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Grid-Scale Battery Storage in a Nutshell
