It depends exactly where and how the battery is made—but when it comes to clean technologies like electric cars and solar power, even the dirtiest batteries emit less CO2 than using no battery at all.
Regardless I always find the argument for fossil fuels over EV hilariously stupid when measuring carbon outputs. Considering that these renewable elements can be recycled over and over unlike one-time fossil fuels…
No they can’t, or have they found a way to 100% recycle Lithium? As far as I know currently they are dependent of mining ever more Lithium to produce new batteries. Nobody really measures the damage done to the earth there, especially when mining happens in remote and/or poor areas.
Even renewable energy needs mined minerals and regular replacement of parts - solar, hydro, wind. All energy has a cost.
No one said it was a zero-sum game. Nothing really is (excluding theory).
I’m just gonna leave these here for good news:
The process, which has also been used on material left over from magnet manufacturing that typically goes to waste, can recover 90 to 98 percent of the rare earths, and the material is pure enough to make new magnets, Nlebedim’s team has demonstrated.
Recovering up to 70 percent of lithium from battery waste without corrosive chemicals, high temperatures, and prior sorting of materials being required: This is achieved by a recycling method developed by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Mar 30, 2023
Also do we wanna start comparing fossil fuel extraction to metals extraction?
It’s kind of a moot point. Especially when we have only about 50 years of accessible oil reserves anyway.
Regardless I always find the argument for fossil fuels over EV hilariously stupid when measuring carbon outputs. Considering that these renewable elements can be recycled over and over unlike one-time fossil fuels…
No they can’t, or have they found a way to 100% recycle Lithium? As far as I know currently they are dependent of mining ever more Lithium to produce new batteries. Nobody really measures the damage done to the earth there, especially when mining happens in remote and/or poor areas.
Even renewable energy needs mined minerals and regular replacement of parts - solar, hydro, wind. All energy has a cost.
No one said it was a zero-sum game. Nothing really is (excluding theory). I’m just gonna leave these here for good news:
The process, which has also been used on material left over from magnet manufacturing that typically goes to waste, can recover 90 to 98 percent of the rare earths, and the material is pure enough to make new magnets, Nlebedim’s team has demonstrated.
Recovering up to 70 percent of lithium from battery waste without corrosive chemicals, high temperatures, and prior sorting of materials being required: This is achieved by a recycling method developed by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Mar 30, 2023
Also do we wanna start comparing fossil fuel extraction to metals extraction? It’s kind of a moot point. Especially when we have only about 50 years of accessible oil reserves anyway.