China’s Battery Breakthrough Could Challenge Lithium-Ion Dominance
Canada Clears Path for West Coast Oil Pipeline Build Felicity Bradstock is a freelance writer specialising in Energy and Finance.
She has a Master’s in International Development from the University of Birmingham, UK.
Researchers have been exploring the use of different technologies to improve battery storage as part of the race to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy and shift away from fossil fuels.
While lithium-ion batteries have significant potential to support utility-scale energy storage, their heavy reliance on lithium has encouraged researchers worldwide to explore other avenues to make battery storage cheaper and more sustainable.
Batteries have been vital components in the rollout of renewable energy, used to support intermittent energy sources, such as wind and solar energy.
Energy is stored in batteries to supply the grid when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining.
Lithium-ion batteries have been the most popular form of energy storage, with companies around the globe having invested heavily in incorporating large-scale battery storage into projects in recent years to make them more reliable and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
However, lithium-ion batteries have several downfalls, with severe implications for both people and the planet.
Lithium is a finite resource, meaning that we will not be able to rely on lithium batteries forever and must invest in recycling to make lithium use more viable.
Roughlyone-third of the world’s lithium comes from salt flats in Argentina and Chile.
However, mining for this lithium requires large quantities of water in an otherwise arid area.
Meanwhile, around 70 percent of cobalt, which is an important part of a battery’s electrode, comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the expansion of mining operations has led to more cases of child labour and unsafe working practices.
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