this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2023
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Debunking The "Dirty" Solar Panels And Battery Myth::Solar panels and residential storage batteries are accused of having huge amounts of embedded carbon. The truth is quite the opposite.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 8 months ago (6 children)

Mining/extraction of lithium is extremely destructive to the environment. This article gives a general overview of our predicament with having such a strong dependency on lithium for batteries: https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2023/01/18/the-paradox-of-lithium/

https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2021/06/09/stop-calling-green-energy-clean/ goes into more depth with how much pollution mining/extracting lithium generates.

I don't see it discussed nearly enough that finding an alternative to lithium should be among the top priorities in research.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Sodium-ion are being applied in real world use cases.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

Advice to be skeptic about this guy. He has been caught multiple times with misinformation spreading, poorly done research, and corporate propaganda.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I was tracking that sodium-ion was only viable for larger applications (e.g. building backup, possibly EVs the size of buses), is that no longer the case?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Oh wow, that's some good news! Hopefully it hits the US and EU markets soon.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (2 children)

https://youtube.com/@UndecidedMF

This guy does a ton of videos on battery technology that is prepping for the market. One of the biggest things he mentions in every battery video is that we need to stop looking for a silver bullet and that all of the technologies have their place. Flow batteries are amazing for industrial/grid-scale storage, lithium-ion is good for small consumer electronics, and betavoltaics could be used for low-power sensors that are becoming quite prevalent. It is going to be a challenge of figuring out the right answer for a given class of situations, not one of finding the best battery.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Nice, I'll check out his channel!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I'm surprised I never hear about Nickel–iron batteries for solar storage in pop media. Long life span, common metals, wide temperature ranges. Seems perfect for household/small industrial storage, but instead, people are strapping Musk's lithium bombs to the sides of their garages.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Check out the channel I mentioned, I think he has several NiFe battery videos.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

In small scale old truck/semi batteries are pretty good energy storage solution. Not good enough for round the year use in transportation, but quite usefull in small scale energy storage. (I have a set of 10 attached to solar panels at summer cottage. Enough to run 12V lighting, fridge, fans and tv through the (short) night).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Are you talking the lead acid starter batteries? Sure, you can repurpose those for offgrid storage, but I'm talking ongrid, industrial scale.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

They found it, sodium

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

The article focuses entirely on the CO2 spent, and uses a pretty high number for batteries, taking nearly a year of daily use and clean charging to offset versus gas

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

People are looking for alternative to lithium batteries. Unfortunately the world does not stop while we're looking.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

I don't see it discussed nearly enough that finding an alternative to lithium should be among the top priorities in research.

Like the Italian startup with their massive CO2 battery? It was reported a year ago.