I don’t need to click on the article to know it’s at least a metric FUCK TONNE less than burning fossil fuel.
How much CO2 is emitted by manufacturing batteries? | MIT Climate Portal
Submitted 1 year ago by TehBamski@lemmy.world to energy@slrpnk.net
https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/how-much-co2-emitted-manufacturing-batteries
Comments
set_secret@lemmy.world 1 year ago
doppelgangmember@lemmy.world 1 year ago
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…
schmorpel@slrpnk.net 1 year ago
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.
NotAnArdvark@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
“Batteries == Good” is my takeaway, but if you can be grid-tied I think zero batteries is the most environmentally friendly option. For grid stabilization I imagine even still that that should be left to utility-scaled installations.
Actually, now that I wrote that, this might be true for residential grid-tie vs utility solar too.
schmorpel@slrpnk.net 1 year ago
The electric car and battery hype in its current form is just an attempt to use the same amount of energy, but now it magically doesn’t cause damage to the planet.
Pushing batteries while we still spend more resources than the planet can regenerate is like hammering a smaller leak into an already sinking boat because it lets out less water than the already existing huge leak which we refuse to fix.
The region I live in is soon to be torn up for lithium mining. Areas already heavily damaged by wildfires and drought. Guess the only way out is by buying a new electric eco SUV and drive away to some beautiful holiday country? /s
keepthepace@slrpnk.net 1 year ago
There is nothing magical about it. Producing electricity without emitting CO2 or burning fossil fuel is a proven process.
set_secret@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Oh, the sheer audacity of suggesting that the electric car and battery hype is nothing more than a futile attempt to maintain our energy consumption without causing damage to the planet. Such a statement reeks of ignorance and a lack of understanding of the broader context of transitioning to cleaner energy sources. The false equivalence drawn between electric vehicles (EVs) and traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles is laughable. It is a well-established fact that EVs have lower emissions over their lifetime compared to ICE vehicles, even when accounting for the production and disposal of batteries. To equate the two is to willfully ignore the evidence.
This comment displays a stunning disregard for the ongoing advancements in battery technology, renewable energy, and resource management. These improvements aim to reduce the environmental impact of EVs and their batteries, making them a more sustainable option in the long run. To dismiss these efforts is to turn a blind eye to positive progress.
The misrepresentation of the goal of promoting EVs is nothing short of disingenuous. The push for EVs is not about maintaining the same energy consumption levels without causing damage; it is part of a broader effort to transition to cleaner, more sustainable energy sources and reduce overall energy consumption.
To suggest otherwise is to distort the truth.
The focus on the individual act of buying an electric vehicle, rather than acknowledging the need for systemic change, is a classic example of missing the forest for the trees.
The transition to electric vehicles is just one aspect of a larger shift towards sustainable practices, including improvements in public transportation, urban planning, and renewable energy infrastructure.
in all honesty this is a deeply misguided attempt to dismiss the potential benefits of electric vehicles and battery technology. It fails to recognize the broader context of the transition to cleaner energy sources and the ongoing advancements in technology that aim to reduce our environmental impact. Instead of offering a constructive critique, they resort to a simplistic and misleading analogy that does little to further the conversation on sustainable transportation solutions.
schmorpel@slrpnk.net 1 year ago
A lot of expensive words to call me wrong, but I think the real issue is with ‘in their lifetime’. Producing more stuff - even less harmful stuff than we have now - cannot possibly be less harmful than not producing it. It’s a dishonest way of making the accounts. If you buy a new electric vehicle now while your old one lands on the dump you are not protecting the planet by using cleaner technology, you are adding another car to the pile of trash we are destroying our planet with, because you could have perfectly well kept driving your old one.
Reduce energy consumption where? I just don’t see it happen, only a push for more consumerism under the guise of improved eco-friendliness, thanks to an overly optimistic hype around EV and battery tech. A greenwashing article about a revolutionary new battery tech every couple of years or so (never sees the market). All the while in the background, Germany is torn up for lignite to keep up with the rising demand for electric energy, Portugal for lithium to make more batteries, and it still gets hotter every summer. Renewables can’t really keep up with the mega-demand that will come from more EVs on the road. So there will be more nuclear plants, more coal plants, more mega-dams to contain rivers, more landscape destroyed. All so that people in their damned cars can drive to places where the landscape is not yet destroyed, or so the adverts promise.
The push for EVs is a nice trick from the car industry to sell you a completely new line of vehicles full of half-baked tech, first of all. A car used to be a quality product, built to last decades. Now, (for some probably completely innocent reason /s) you are somehow supposed to buy a new model every few years, each more eco-friendly than the last. Look my friend, you cannot produce something from nothing. All these new, eco-friendly battery-powered products they are selling us now are ripped out of the guts of mother earth. Use what you already have for as long as you can, go as local as you can, and don’t fall for the greenwashing hype that you can keep driving without causing damage.