The recycling of lithium-ion batteries is vitally important to the future of electric power, explains Gregg Smith at Orbia Advance, writing for WEF. Making a battery has a significant carbon footprint of its own. Yet recycling can be one tenth the cost of manufacturing a battery from scratch. And energy security is enhanced by lessening dependence on mining countries and other suppliers. It’s why Europe will require new batteries to contain at … [Read more...]
Critical Minerals: will there be enough to meet the 2050 net-zero emissions target?
If the production and processing of critical minerals cannot keep up with the accelerating adoption of batteries, EVs, wind turbines and solar PV technologies, the pace and success of the global energy system transformation will be put at risk. In this explainer, Lilly Yejin Lee and James Glynn at the Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University address the big questions, drawing on the data underlying the IEA’s “The Role of Critical … [Read more...]