Tag: batteries

Reports: Electric vehicles – 3 articles

BBC: Electric cars: What will happen to all the dead batteries? While electric vehicles (EVs) may not emit any carbon dioxide during their working lives, he’s concerned about what happens when they run out of road – in particular what happens to the batteries. “In 10 to 15 years when there are large numbers coming to the end of their life, it’s going to be very important that we have a recycling industry,” he points out.

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Electric vehicles to go from 11 million to 145 million in nine years, says IEA. And there could be even more electric vehicles on the road by 2030 if policymakers were to give them a jumpstart; a newly released report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) has found that there could be as many as 230 million electric vehicles worldwide by 2030 if governments agreed to accelerate their efforts to encourage  production of the low-carbon vehicles—vital to staying within the global climate target.

Axios: To combat climate change, electric cars have to be cheaper. Teslas, which make up more than 70% of the electric-car market, have even wealthier drivers, with average incomes of more than $300,000, Hardman’s research has found. (Multiple requests for comment to Tesla were not returned.)

The Daily Climate, April 14, 2021

Articles include: clean energy focus; blue carbon credits; John Kerry off to China; Glacier in Alaska is moving; Mexico & coal; Cost of rechargeable batteries; Brazil & Indigenous land rights; Endangered American rivers; companies call on Biden to reduce GHGs.

The Daily Climate, April 12, 2021

Articles include: Flood survivors; Biden’s infrastructure plan; California expands O&G drilling; battery makers; Canadian energy jobs; nuclear power plant shutting down; Russia & the arctic; Maine laws & solar investment; Brazil; home buying and climate change; offshore wind; Navajo farmers.

The Daily Climate, April 7, 2021

Articles include: Gretta Thunberg; racism; green goals and the power grid; old batteries & electric vehicles; outdated rainfall data; Canadian coal mine; sea meadows; Chevron climate goals; Antarctic ice shelves collapse; Florida & sea level rise.

King George coal plant to be converted to solar and storage

Virginia Mercury: King George coal plant to be converted to solar and storage.

The owner of a former coal plant in King George County intends to redevelop the site as a solar and energy storage facility in another move by Virginia’s power sector away from fossil fuels to renewables.

J-POWER USA, a subsidiary of Tokyo-headquartered power producer J-POWER, announced earlier this April that it plans to repurpose the former Birchwood Power Plant as part of what CEO and President Mark Condon called the company’s “plan to increase our renewable portfolio and continue our efforts to build a cleaner sustainable energy future.”

The Daily Climate, April 5, 2021

Articles include: Algae blooms & otters; cars versus mass transit; Study: meat & dairy lobbyists; US offshore wind targets; EV battery availability problems; fossil fuel divestment; climate jobs; Green New Deal; Report: Must electrify transportation; rewilding our cities; pandemic and EVs; sunlight blocking tests.

Renewables plus batteries offer Australia the same energy security as coal, research finds

The Guardian: Renewables plus batteries offer Australia the same energy security as coal, research finds. Australia Institute calls for rule change to allow renewables to replace fossil fuels in underpinning grid reliability. [No link provided.]

Renewable energy and batteries can secure Australia’s electricity grid as effectively as coal and gas, new research suggests.

The research, commissioned by the Australia Institute thinktank and released on Monday, found clean technologies provided the fast frequency response service and voltage control needed to secure the energy grid and reduce cost. But the report says regulatory barriers currently limit the ability of renewable energy and batteries to provide system security.

The electricity grid requires controls to keep frequency and voltage within safe limits – a service historically provided by coal, gas and hydro power stations.

The Hottest Amenity From Developers? A Power Plant Made of Batteries

New York Times: The Hottest Amenity From Developers? A Power Plant Made of Batteries. Charged via rooftop solar panels, the cells form a network that provides a building with backup electricity and that utilities can tap during peak periods.

Soleil Lofts, an apartment development in suburban Salt Lake City, offers a lot of amenities — pools, three spas, a basketball court, electric appliances, a dog park — to lure potential residents.

But the feature that sealed the deal for Maik Kannenberg, a sales representative for a local tech firm, was a sleek, silent device: an energy storage battery.

Mr. Kannenberg’s home, like every apartment in the $156 million, 600-unit complex, includes a new ecoLinx battery made by the German company Sonnen. Charged via rooftop solar panels, these cells, roughly the size of a water heater, collectively form what’s called a virtual power plant. The system not only provides 12.6 megawatt-hours of backup power for the building, it also makes better use of the renewable power generated on site.

How Green Are Electric Vehicles? New tool.

New York Times: How Green Are Electric Vehicles? In short: Very green. But plug-in cars still have environmental effects. Here’s a guide to the main issues and how they might be addressed.

Around the world, governments and automakers are promoting electric vehicles as a key technology to curb oil use and fight climate change. General Motors has said it aims to stop selling new gasoline-powered cars and light trucks by 2035 and will pivot to battery-powered models. This week, Volvo said it would move even faster and introduce an all-electric lineup by 2030.

But as electric cars and trucks go mainstream, they have faced a persistent question: Are they really as green as advertised?

While experts broadly agree that plug-in vehicles are a more climate-friendly option than traditional vehicles, they can still have their own environmental impacts, depending on how they’re charged up and manufactured. Here’s a guide to some of the biggest worries — and how they might be addressed.

One way to compare the climate impacts of different vehicle models is with this interactive online tool by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who tried to incorporate all the relevant factors: what it takes to manufacture the cars, how much gasoline conventional cars burn and where the electricity to charge electric vehicles comes from.