Wind farms such as this produce sustainable electricity
Photo of Clements Gap Wind Farm, Mid-North South Australia
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Wind farms such as this produce sustainable electricity
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Photo of Clements Gap Wind Farm, Mid-North South Australia |
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Electricity generated by solar or wind power can be used directly to charge vehicle batteries or it can be used to produce hydrogen which can then provide energy for vehicles and other purposes.
But if either battery-electric or hydrogen-electric cars are to be sustainable either the batteries and fuel cells must have very long lives or they must be recyclable and be recycled.
AdvantagesBattery-electric-vehicles – advantagesEfficiencyLittle energy is lost in the charging and discharging of batteries.IntegrationThe batteries in electric vehicles could be integrated into home power systems and into national grids when the vehicle is plugged in.Hydrogen-fuel-cell-electric vehicles – advantagesHydrogen can be stored for later useElectricity itself can't be stored, it must be used as it is generated, but it can be used to generate hydrogen when generation exceeds consumption. Hydrogen has a great many uses; including for many of the same uses as natural gas. It is not easy to store, but it can be combined with nitrogen to form ammonia which is easy to store and export; ammonia has many industrial uses and the hydrogen in it can be recovered.RecyclingAccording to Ballard, who apparently manufacture fuel-cells, they are recyclable and the valuable metals can be recovered. Ballard claims that their products meet the relevant European waste electronic equipment (EWWW) directive.
DisadvantagesBattery-electric-vehicles – disadvantagesBy far the leading form of battery for battery-electric-vehicles (BEVs) at the time of writing is one of the variations on a lithium battery. Typically, lithium batteries use, in addition to lithium, substantial amounts of cobalt.I hope that we are not replacing one polluting industry (fossil fuels) with another, although I can't imagine the environmental problems from electric vehicles being anywhere near as bad as those resulting from mining and burning fossil fuels. MiningLithium miningLithium is not a plentiful element. In Chile and Argentina (the world's second and forth biggest producers of lithium) mining is done in salars with serious associated environmental problems. While China is not the biggest producer of lithium it is one of the biggest. Considering the current repressive, aggressive and belligerent government in that country it is undesirable to rely it.Cobalt miningAt the time of writing much of the cobalt mining was taking place in third-world countries that had poor safety standards for miners and poor environmental standards for mining.
Jonathan Watts writing for The Guardian, 2019/12/18, published an article titled 'How the race for cobalt risks turning it from miracle metal to deadly chemical' that outlined a number of problems associated with cobalt mining, which had increased "more than sevenfold between 2008 and 2015 with an increasingly evident impact".
RecyclingAt the time of writing, some of the lithium in a lithium battery can be recovered on recycling, but:
Redwood Materials aim to recycle vehicle batteries. Their published aspirations are very commendable, I hope that their achievements will be as good.
Hydrogens-fuel-cell-electric vehicles – disadvantagesHydrogen productionI believe that the production of hydrogen from renewable electricity is only about 30% efficient.Vehicle efficiencyI believe that the production of electricity from hydrogen in a fuel cell is only about 30% efficient.
QuestionsAs of the time of writing I believe that there is very little recycling of lithium batteries and the lithium recovered when they are recycled is not sufficiently pure for use in making new batteries. It seems to be cheaper to mine new lithium than to recycle old batteries.I don't know anything about the recycling of the cobalt that makes up a large proportion of lithium batteries. |
Related pagesRelated pages on external sites...There are pages on the internet relating to this subject that can be found using searches such as "Battery or fuel cell vehicles, which are the more sustainable?"Battery electric vehiclesRedwood Materials aim to recycle vehicle batteries. Their published aspirations are very commendable.Are Lithium Ion Batteries Compatible With a Sustainable Future?
Lithium mining: What you should know about the contentious issue.
Fuel-cell electric vehiclesFuel cell recycling and platinum recovery; Ballard."With many years of fuel cell manufacturing experience, Ballard Power Systems, Inc. has developed industry leading processes designed to minimize the energy intensity and environmental impact of product production. At the end of a product’s useful life, processes ensure the efficient recovery of highly valuable precious metals and minimize waste entering the landfill." |
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