It explores how they have shifted to new tactics, using “an array of powerful Ds: disinformation, deceit, divisiveness, deflection, delay, despair-mongering, and doomism.” It describes in explicit detail how forces of denial and delay – fossil fuel companies, right-wing partisans, media and talking heads, and oil-funded governments – continue to profit from our dependence on fossil fuels. Published January 12, 2021, The New Climate War describes how outright denial of the physical evidence of human-caused climate change simply is no longer credible. And he is intent on keeping both in his life for years to come.T he New Climate War: the fight to take back our planet is the latest must-read book by leading climate change scientist and communicator Michael Mann of Penn State University. He spends more time with his Tesla than his wife, he says. High Mileage Rob is perhaps one of the people most consumed by these questions. There were discussions about how long a modern EV's batteries will last, and the best practices to extend their lifespan (some tips: don't use rapid chargers too often, don't recharge unless you really need it). That was a hot topic of conversation at Canada's largest electric vehicle gathering recently in Cambridge, Ont. And whatever you're using to store it better last a long, long time so you don't have to replace it all the time." You have to be able to store it at scale affordably. So it means you have to be able to store electrical energy. "If you want to use renewable energy for your source of power, the sun and the wind aren't there all the time.
He's also thinking beyond cars - into home heating and electrical needs. "We're trying to help make lithium ion batteries last longer, in terms of years or decades … and lower their cost," Dahn says. He's trying to not only pack more power into batteries to boost the range of electric vehicles, he's also working to increase the number of recharges possible without efficiency loss. His team continues to find ways to improve the technology. Out of those batteries, you're going to find very valuable applications in second life," says Gavin Harper, a Faraday Institution research fellow and the lead author of last month's paper on battery recycling, published in the journal Nature.ĭalhousie University’s Jeff Dahn is considered a pioneer of lithium-ion battery research. "There are going to be a lot of batteries that reach end of life. One of those research facilities is the U.K.'s Faraday Institution, and it's looking at ways to both reduce waste and extend the usefulness of all that lithium that's being mined. But certainly there's a big potential for what you can do with them," he says. "There's lots of stuff going on in the research labs around the world, trying to figure out what to do with these things. "We do our own research, but it would be nice to have better partnerships with the OEMs to understand exactly what we're dealing with, what are the best methods and procedures and policies in handling them," MacDonald says. MacDonald adds that his company is already receiving nickel metal hydride batteries from early-model hybrids, and is figuring out what to do with them. Problem is, it’s not clear what he should do with them. "As pure electric vehicles come onto the market, there's less wearable parts, so it's going to change what we sell," he says.Īndrew MacDonald of Maritime Autoparts is expecting to start seeing lithium-ion batteries at his recycling facility within the next few years as electric vehicles age. His facility recycles car parts and he says it's only a few more years before his industry will start seeing EVs and their lithium-ion batteries in the scrapyard. It's something Andrew MacDonald at Maritime Autoparts in Debert, N.S., is thinking about. Second life for lithium-ion batteriesĪnd all that extracted raw material - once the batteries are worn out - will land somewhere. (Ivan Alvarado/Reuters)Īnd all the operations are energy intensive, sometimes running on diesel generators and relying on carbon-emitting heavy machinery.Īdding to the cumulative effects on the environment, lithium demand is expected to at least triple by 2025, pushing more exploration and extraction globally. An aerial view of the brine pools and processing areas of the Rockwood lithium plant on the Atacama salt flat in northern Chile, the largest lithium deposit currently in production.