Prof. Alissa Kendall co-authors landmark study showing how to shrink the lithium footprint of electrifying the transportation sector
CEE Professor Alissa Kendall, along with graduate students Kristi Dayemo and Margaret Slattery of the Energy Graduate Group, and colleagues at Providence College and the Climate + Community Project have released a groundbreaking new report showing the lithium footprint of transport decarbonization. Decarbonization strategies rely on battery electric vehicles (EVs). This will create an unprecedented demand for critical metals such as lithium used in their batteries. Large-scale mining for metals creates numerous environmental harms and has major impacts on surrounding communities. Prof. Kendall and colleagues demonstrate that the adoption of smart policies by the US including reducing vehicle dependency by improving transit and other mobility options, coupled with strong policies for the recycling of EV batteries and discouraging the super-sizing of EV batteries can reduce lithium demand by as much as 90% in the most optimistic cases. Beyond the tangible environmental benefits, their work shows how the embrace of such policies can help reduce geopolitical tensions and help create safer, more equitable communities. You can read the report here. For more coverage, see here:
The Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/24/us-electric-vehicles-lithium-consequences-research
Scientific American - https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/making-the-entire-u-s-car-fleet-electric-could-cause-lithium-shortages/
Wired https://www.wired.com/story/the-earth-is-begging-you-to-accept-smaller-ev-batteries/