The Powerful Possibilities of Recycling the World's Batteries | Emma Nehrenheim | TED

The world has plenty of clean energy. The problem is storing that energy and getting it where we need it, when we need it, says battery recycling pioneer Emma Nehrenheim. While batteries are fundamental to powering a sustainable future, their production is surprisingly harsh on the environment. She lays out the science behind a breakthrough in recycling a battery's core elements, offering a manufacturing solution that could vastly reduce the industry's environmental impact and demand for new materials from mining.
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• The Powerful Possibili...
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[@shawnn1757]

Absolutely electrifying speech!

[@KKHighlights]

I see what you did there

[@braamies5339]

I saw that coming from a mile away. Well done!

[@dameanvil]

00:08 🌍 Batteries play a crucial role in enabling the use of clean energy by allowing its storage and transportation. 01:09 ⛏ Historically, we have extracted resources like oil without considering long-term consequences, contributing to environmental crises. 02:10 🏭 Battery manufacturing consumes large amounts of energy and relies on global mining, refining, and complex supply chains. 03:44 🔄 Putting battery manufacturing under a renewable energy grid significantly reduces its carbon footprint, but challenges remain in the supply chain. 04:45 🌿 Sustainable mining and recycling can greatly reduce the environmental impact of battery production. 05:42 ♻ A recycling process can recover materials from used batteries, creating a circular battery economy. 07:44 ⚙ The circular economy approach should be extended to other industries, such as wind turbines and solar panels, for a sustainable transformation. 08:39 💰 Implementing recycling and traceability systems is not only environmentally beneficial but also economically profitable, as materials retain their value over time.

[@ziploc2000]

Nailed it, and when you start with a old battery you already have all the resources needed to make a new one. Batteries, solar panels etc can be recycled, we just aren't up to speed with the infrastructure to do it.

[@TobyOHara]

This is a very important message, I'm glad we are talking about it. I hope we also start to implement mechanical batteries, which will ease pressure on mining. Mechanical batteries include, weights and pulley, pumped air, pumped hydro, flywheel, and springs.

[@HaiNguyenLandNhaTrang]

Its a great speech, many thanks :)

[@WeylandLabs]

So another Redwood Materials, good to know more company's are getting involved. 🔋♻️

[@mapowey7214]

this is the first time ive clicked on a ted talk in a while. seems actually important for once. she seemed a little nervous (who care’s though) but the content of the speech was great.

[@Stein12345]

Amazing! We are building shredder for all kinds of material. I think we should concentrate more on batteries

[@can_english]

Wow Thanks~~

[@takielddine9901]

Great

[@user-ys8fs4vv9v]

Yes

[@34tm3gaming3]

She is absolutely right. Fossil fuels is already killing our planet. We need to do things safely for the advancement of clean energy. ❤

[@andycordy5190]

Bring on the black mass!

[@stefanalbu9227]

What's the hurry womaaan? What's the hurry? Beeeee theere........You The GIRL

[@patelak746]

❤

[@Jim007baker]

People tend to gloss over areas they shouldn't gloss over in their pursuit of a pushing an idea. In this case the idea is how its great to have batteries and run the world on electricity. The elephant in the room is how are we going to generate the electricity to power all these vehicles. The fact is that the electrical grids can not handle running the world on electric cars. And more electric cars means more oil, and coal burning.

[@Knight766]

We'll have to downsize significantly

[@LD-du3xx]

Spot on.

[@prashantvanave8504]

That's why i love Nordic people Otherwise i love myself too 😮

[@cybersekkin]

No recycle opperation is terribly efficient. Materials get degraded as they are mixed with impurities. I guess well have to make due until molecular sorters can get invented.

[@rfonfire]

From Bangladesh 🇧🇩

[@Tinarezaeezahed]

😮

[@mmd8074]

👍👍👍👍👍👍❤

[@LD-du3xx]

Anyone who says “batteries are clean energy” is truly misrepresenting the term. Starting out complaining about coal and fossil fuels being so horrible already sets the tone for your talk. I posit batteries are as much or dirtier than soft coal. From the precious metals dug by slave labor, to massive lithium and cobalt mines that leave the earth scarred and the ozone polluted by the massive trucks, trains and coal fired mills that refine them. Pointing out one form of energy as being “cleaner” than another is futile. All energy has a cost to the environment. From mining graphite and using oils in windmills and then their disposal, to the same issues with solar panels and high strength glass that cover them. Let’s take the word clean right out of it. Even with smoke scrubbers, we are at a zero gain for cleaning the world. To lobby for one form over another is just away of moving fortunes from one pocket to another. The ONLY way to reduce pollution and waste, is to cut back on energy and goods production. I don’t see that happening. Reuse slows the inevitable. If we could manage to get along as a species long enough, we might, with billions of brains, come up with a good energy source. Let’s focus more on innovation, something we can do. Stop bickering and stomping our feet that this country is making more than the other. We are all guilty of being in their position. My feeling is that we are close to something with our atomic work. If we could do nuclear without the harmful radiation and inherent danger, we may be on to something. But let’s stop pointing fingers and just get to work.

[@ngwezinthaw8814]

So what should we do about it? I'm just a normal civilian, not an engineer nor an expert. As a civilian, I want you to suggest that how to be the part of saving our earth.

[@paris_cellover]

Hi sir, I agree with your comment to some extent. "Batteries are clean energy" is not a wrong statement but the way we take precursors is. We exploit them from ores and use pyrometallurgy and/or hydrometallurgy to separate them from each other; and obviously, it releases the carbon footprint. But I believe her idea (apparently she said in this video) is about a cycling process using hydrometallurgical method. In my country, cycling by hydrometallurgy is not developed yet as long as high-grade ores are still abundant, but when they are exhausted, production of precursors from low-grade ores and used products in most of cases must be performed by hydrometallurgy because of profit and environmental issues. An clearly, we all know hydrometallurgy is friendly with the environment

[@HealthZo]

😊😊😊

[@barlowjmb]

I throw all my batteries into the ocean, for the eels. I’m doing my part!

[@spookycanuck1]

And just two days ago two battery recycling plants in Canada shut down. Another reason why we are not ready for widespread adoption of EVs. It’s going to cost billions, if not trillions, to prepare our electric grids over the next decade or two.

[@ziploc2000]

Boo hoo hoo, we are not ready for new technology because we didn't prepare. That's not a good reason to not prepare.

[@nxclimpan]

But like one month earlier Northvolt (the company she is working for) announced they will be opening their own factory in Canada

[@mmd8074]

Right - burned fossil is lost forever!!! It is in the atmosphere- no Chance too recycle it like Akkus 🔋

[@user-ys8fs4vv9v]

I know scientific information

[@adigerlaprasad5348]

👌👌👌🙏💐💐💐🇮🇳

[@johnnyblaze5551]

First

[@alexandrugheorghe5610]

Indeed.

[@ikGREENY]

Y’all gotta take that Sue Klebold talk down straight up a delusional woman playing victim and hiding from accountability. That talk is not intellectual in any way and it’s not educational, it’s the opposite. It’s manipulating the truth and the past to avoid responsibility, and its disrespect to the victims. Right your own wrongs and take the damn talk down.

[@rockthebedroom]

I hope that Elon musk jumps on this bandwagon. There are so many dead Tesla batteries that they don’t know what to do with yet.

[@webcabbage]

Look up redwood materials