this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2024
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Thing about batteries is.
From an environmental standpoint, both mining the raw materials and producing the batteries uses a lot of energy and produces a lot of pollution.
Morally, many raw materials for batteries come from desperately poor conflict zones, so you have megacorps staffing mines with slavery and child labor, paying local warlords/dictators for permission to operate, having those warlords/dictators kill protesters and union organizers, etc.
If we can get a hydrogen economy working, and the equipment and technology don't need conflict minerals or polluting heavy industry to manufacture, it would be a boon for the world both practically and morally.
But that's a big if.
Hydrogen fuel cells need rare earth metals, too. Sodium and iron air batteries, in contrast, don't need a whole lot. For that matter, lithium batteries are opening up more abundant sources. People misunderstood what "reserves" means for minerals.