πͺ W43 - π Electric car batteries need fixing
The problem with electric car batteries (today), The World Bank is failing humanity on the climate crisis & Holographic meetings with Cisco
Hi,
and welcome to the 12th edition of your favourite Wednesday bite, with again some bite-sized knowledge to make you popular at dinner conversations and bar chats.
In this edition:
The problem with electric car batteries (today)
The World Bank is failing humanity on the climate crisis
Holographic meetings with Cisco
And some additional πΊ Fun, π Crumbs & π§ Brain game
Happy reading.
Regards,
Steven
Btw, building an audience for this newsletter requires effort, so by sharing this newsletter you can enlighten others and help me grow. Thanks in advance for your help.
β Grab a coffee, take a bite πͺ
5 min to chew through this one.
Not subscribed yet? Subscribe now!
β π The problem with electric car batteries (today)
While electric vehicles can play an important role in reducing emissions, they also contain a potential environmental timebomb: their batteries.
By one estimate, more than 12m tons of lithium-ion batteries are expected to retire between now and 2030. These batteries require a lot of raw materials like lithium, nickel and cobalt, but they also leave a mountain of electronic waste.
Secondly, mining for those raw materials has an impact on climate, environment and human rights.
Only recycle when itβs time to do so
Quite often batteries that are no longer useful for a car, are returned for recycling. however, these batteries can still get a second life to store excess power generated by solar or wind farms.
βThe best thing to do at first is to keep things in use for longer.β
The current problem with recycling
First of all, note that currently there is a big momentum behind lithium-ion battery recycling. Being at the forefront of using batteries, Tesla announced that it started building recycling capabilities at its Gigafactory in Nevada to process waste batteries, where valuable materials such as copper and cobalt are extracted and sent back into the supply chain.
So recycling is not the issue, but recyclability is. Most components are welded together, which is good for electrical connection, but bad for recycling. Easier disassembly could also help reduce safety hazards, such as fire and explosion risks.
Systematic change
Via means of legal requirements, battery manufacturing and recycling could get the push it needs, like was the case for lead-acid batteries, where now as much as 99% of lead in automobile batteries is recycled.
The US has yet to implement federal policies mandating lithium-ion battery recycling, but the EU and China already require battery manufacturers to pay for setting up collection and recycling systems.
Additionally, the EU is working on rates of recovery for materials to ensure there are markets for recyclers.
Ideas about digital passports are also formulated to be able to check a batteryβs health and remaining capacity and its contents for recycling purposes.
Now is the time to invest in sustainable solutions.
The money pouring into the automobile industry offers an βopportunity to ensure that these investments are going to be in sustainable new ecosystems and not just in a new type of carβ
Source: The Guardian - 6Β minΒ read
β‘ π¦ The World Bank is failing humanity on the climate crisis
As you may know, the Cop26 global climate summit has started a few days ago, where key decisions about the fate of humanity will be made. This will also be the stage for the World Bank, which wants to eradicate poverty and build shared prosperity.
But according to insiders, it will likely fail to achieve those goals. Because nothing will increase poverty and undermine prosperity more than runaway global warming.
While the cry to step away from fossil fuel hasnβt been greater, the Bank still has spent more than $12bn on direct fossil fuel project financing since the landmark Paris climate agreement. Although it did end direct financing of coal-fired power plants, it still supports coal through backdoor channels, like for example in Indonesia.
The Bank should phase out all direct and indirect support to fossil fuels and instead fund and assist a just transition toward clean energy worldwide.
However, getting there is might not be as easy as it seems.
The World Bank is currently led by David Malpass, who worked for Donald Trumpβs anti-climate presidential campaign and denied that human-made carbon emissions cause global warming.
Ideally, the president of the World Bank should come from a developing country on the frontlines of the climate crisis, and be genuinely committed to climate solutions, but due to the βgentlemanβs agreement,β this will always be a US national.
Internal issues
Another issue that is disabling progress towards being committed to climate solutions is a systemic problem of senior management caving to political pressure.
During the recent data manipulation scandal, senior officials pressured and sometimes intimidated staff into rigging numbers so as to artificially boost Chinaβs score on investment conditions.
Institutional failures are destroying the World Bankβs ability to deliver on climate, which is the most pressing global development priority.
Instead of catering to the selfish whims of powerful interests, the World Bank needs to marshal its unmatched resources and lead on this critical issue.
Source: The Guardian - 4 minΒ read
β’ π€ Holographic meetings with Cisco
Meetings used to be physical, with everyone sitting in the same room around a (round) table. However, with Covid-19 keeping us at home or with limited people in the same room, we have become used to meeting online, staring at a 2D wall of participant feeds.
Cisco is working on Webex Hologram, which enables virtual meetings in augmented reality, providing a sense of being in the same room again, via photorealistic holograms instead of cartoon-like avatars. It also includes the ability to walk around a 3D object, point to it, discuss it, and, perhaps, practice repairing it.
Besides the sense of being in a real meeting, it would also allow for complex discussions on fine details of a product with a far away contractor manufacturing the product, which would normally require physical travel to that contractor.
Still some work to be done
Cisco is in βvery early developmentβ with its holograms, testing with a small batch of partners, gradually increasing to 250 customers before making it available to the general public.
Another aspect that needs to be looked at is the creation of holograms of people, as today a multi-camera set-up is needed to make the holograms look convincing.
Cisco is working on the capture array part of the equation with its customers, who are trying to understand the best ways of capturing, not only 3D images of meeting participants but also of the objects they might be discussing and collaborating on.
Via Webex Hologram, Cisco hopes to identify a small number of use cases that will improve collaboration and save customers money.
Source: The Fast company - 3Β minΒ read
πΊ Fun
Buzz Lightyear, the toy Space Ranger superhero from the Toy Story franchise is making his solo debut on the big screen on June 17, 2022. Hereβs the first teaser trailer.
π Crumbs
Facebook changed its name to βMetaβ
Urbanistaβs solar-powered headphones really do work
Chinaβs lunar rock samples show lava flowed on the moon 2 billion years ago
Cop26: world leaders agree deal to end deforestation
Amazonβs Project Kuiper wants to launch two prototype satellites by the end of next year
Snap, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube lost nearly $10bn after iPhone privacy changes
π§ Brain game
Do you know how much Tesla spends on advertising as well as R&D per car?
R&D: $2984/car - Advertising: $0/car
Read more at Visual Capitalist.
Questions? Feedback? Leave a comment π
If you like this newsletter, hit the π€ button below.
π