Solar In Poor Countries Is Creating a Huge Lead Hazard (slowboring.com) 51
schwit1 shares a report from Slow Boring: A new report (PDF) from the Center for Global Development documents that most of [the decentralized solar/battery systems used in poor countries in sub-Saharan Africa] use lead-acid batteries, like Americans use in cars. Lead-acid batteries work for a while and then need to be recycled. If they're recycled safely, that's fine. But in poor countries, most lead-acid batteries are not recycled safely and they become a huge source of toxic lead poisoning. C.G.D. believes that decentralized solar systems are currently generating somewhere between 250,000 and 1.5 million tons of unsafe lead-acid battery waste per year, a number that could grow much higher.
Americans have mostly heard about lead issues in recent years due to the tragic situation in Flint, Michigan. But on the whole, lead exposure via faulty water pipes is a relatively minor issue. Across American history, the biggest culprits for lead exposure have been lead paint and leaded gasoline. Both were phased out decades ago, but old paint chips and lingering lead in soil have remained problems for years, albeit at diminishing rates.
The global situation is quite different and much worse, to the point that in low- and middle-income countries, half of children have blood lead levels above the threshold that would trigger emergency action in the United States. It sounds fantastical to cite numbers this high. But there is credible (albeit somewhat uncertain) research indicating that five million people per year die as a result of lead-induced cardiovascular impairments. And roughly 20 percent of the gap in academic achievement between poor and rich countries is due to lead's impact on kids' cognitive development. The report goes on to note that lead-acid batteries dominate solar storage in poorer countries because they're far cheaper than lithium-ion alternatives. When these lead batteries reach end-of-life, they are often recycled unsafely, creating significant lead pollution.
It's difficult to determine the scale of the problem due to limited data and minimal attention from policymakers, but researchers say it could become massive as solar adoption accelerates. Since safer battery technologies and proper recycling methods already exist, the issue largely stems from cost and lack of regulation. In other words, the problem is solvable if addressed early.
Americans have mostly heard about lead issues in recent years due to the tragic situation in Flint, Michigan. But on the whole, lead exposure via faulty water pipes is a relatively minor issue. Across American history, the biggest culprits for lead exposure have been lead paint and leaded gasoline. Both were phased out decades ago, but old paint chips and lingering lead in soil have remained problems for years, albeit at diminishing rates.
The global situation is quite different and much worse, to the point that in low- and middle-income countries, half of children have blood lead levels above the threshold that would trigger emergency action in the United States. It sounds fantastical to cite numbers this high. But there is credible (albeit somewhat uncertain) research indicating that five million people per year die as a result of lead-induced cardiovascular impairments. And roughly 20 percent of the gap in academic achievement between poor and rich countries is due to lead's impact on kids' cognitive development. The report goes on to note that lead-acid batteries dominate solar storage in poorer countries because they're far cheaper than lithium-ion alternatives. When these lead batteries reach end-of-life, they are often recycled unsafely, creating significant lead pollution.
It's difficult to determine the scale of the problem due to limited data and minimal attention from policymakers, but researchers say it could become massive as solar adoption accelerates. Since safer battery technologies and proper recycling methods already exist, the issue largely stems from cost and lack of regulation. In other words, the problem is solvable if addressed early.
On the contrary (Score:2, Troll)
This probably leads to used car batteries being re-used for solar instead of being scrapped immediately (and scrapping of cars in the 3rd world usually means reusing what they can then chucking the rest in a ditch) the way old tesla car LiOn are used for home power.
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Re:On the contrary (Score:4, Insightful)
It's an issue, but not really anything to do with solar as the headline claims. It's just the usual pollution issue due to developed nations shipping their used batteries to Africa for "disposal", where they get used for this and quickly die.
There are of course plenty of other pollution issues in those places, for the same reasons.
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who the fuck is shipping lead acid batteries to africa?
theyre 90% lead which is both cheap as shit and heavy as balls so who is paying for ship fuel to move them to africa for... disposal????
second car batteries in the us and eu and asia are like 98% recyclable, they turn them into new batteries, why do you think they charge you $20 if you dont bring your old one back
Re:On the contrary (Score:4, Informative)
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Africa is going green....AND comes with built in population control.
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Doesn't really make sense though. I mean, I know a lot of criminals are idiots, but the lead, antimony, etc. in the battery are generally economically recyclable. Meaning that there's an actual profit motive in recycling them. It's not the typical e-waste. The plastic is generally an easily recyclable thermoplastic as well, that just has to be shredded, cleaned, then remade into new battery casings. The sulfuric acid, if not recyclable, can be neutralized and any heavy metals dissolved in it can be removed.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
This is for the US. But anyways car batteries are not like "e-waste" that just gets burned and picked over by kids in flip-flops far far away.
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So your idea is that lead acid batteries are not a huge source of toxic lead poisoning in Africa, even though the summary and story provide evidence that it is?
Linking of lead pollution to solar is rather strange. From article lead poisoning is attributed to "backyard" battery recycling operations rather than use of batteries themselves. If all solar in this region were using LFP batteries lead poisonings would persists. Recycling operations involving importation of discarded batteries are a separate activity.
Lead acid is a terrible choice for solar systems. Not only do they have much lower cycle life and capacity due to sulfation you can't even use half the
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So your idea is that lead acid batteries are not a huge source of toxic lead poisoning in Africa, even though the summary and story provide evidence that it is?
Linking of lead pollution to solar is rather strange. From article lead poisoning is attributed to "backyard" battery recycling operations rather than use of batteries themselves. If all solar in this region were using LFP batteries lead poisonings would persists. Recycling operations involving importation of discarded batteries are a separate activity..
Lead acid is a terrible choice for solar systems. Not only do they have much lower cycle life and capacity due to sulfation you can't even use half the batt
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The batteries in the 70 million cars in Africa have to be recycled as well.
Also, 'Africa' is several dozen countries, some very developed.
Re: On the contrary (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem is the same whether the batteries are used for cars, storage for solar, or storage for unreliable electric grid. But "solar" in the article title gets more clicks.
According to the linked report, the problem is that a great deal of the battery recycling is done by back-yard/garage operations that lose up to half of the lead into the environment. So the government needs to get involved somehow, stop the unregulated small operator recycling, and also do something about the other sources such as lead paint. Tragedy of the commons and that sort of thing. This is very much like the USA before the EPA was created in the 1970's, thank you President Nixon.
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"According to the linked report, the problem is that a great deal of the battery recycling is done by back-yard/garage operations that lose up to half of the lead into the environment. "
How do you figure?
Like the +- 1 million US ammo reloaders who make their own lead bullets by melting lead from all kinds of sources, batteries included?
Lead has a relatively high boiling point of 1,749C , so at typical casting temperatures of 350-450C you're not actually boiling lead into vapor in large quantities.
Studies on
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True that about casting bullets - lead vapor wouldn't be the problem. My friends and I were black power enthusiasts in a rural area in the 1970's and cast many thousands. Some of the most fun I ever had.
Anyway, the problematic battery recycling Is like this:
https://dialogue.earth/en/poll... [dialogue.earth]
There are solutions (Score:2)
Re:There are solutions (Score:4)
Adding a "refund" for returning used batteries, like we used to do for cans, would effectively solve the problem. Just make the "refund" big enough (it's not big enough for cans in America anymore).
You live somewhere where they don't do a core charge? We still have that here. Last battery I bought had a 10 dollar core charge that got refunded when I dropped off the old battery.
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I can remember when they did this with glass bottles, back in the '50s and '60s, but it was called a deposit. You paid a few cents more when you bought whatever it was, usually soda, beer or booze, and got it back when you brought in the empties, even if it wasn't the same store you bought it from. There were even homeless, or nearly homeless people salvaging them from dumpsters to buy food or whatever.
I remember as a kid, My parents would allow me to keep the money for returning bottles. The deposit thing is something that woks pretty well.
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Not sure about Coke bottles, but I know that back in the day when we would leave out our milk bottle empties for the milkman, the bottles would be washed and re-used. So for those sorts of bottles, the deposit was the traditional kind, intended to guarantee the return of the container for re-use.
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You describe the existing EU system RIGHT NOW.
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You describe the existing EU system RIGHT NOW.
Seems if that is the EU system, it is woefully inadequate. Here in the hinterlands we have a tremendous amount of recycling going on.
Case returnable Beer bottles are returned with the case, washed and re-used until the bottles get pretty abraded on the outside, then melted and used again. Some states have a running deposit system for Aluminum cans. Many local milk companies have reusable glass milk bottles as well. We don't have many milk/egg delivery services any more, but the reusable bottle places
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That's generally how it works in the US now. You pay a "core charge" of $10-15 on top of the price of the battery. You only get that money back if you return the old battery for recycling. The same thing could be done in the 3rd world and those core charges that are not reclaimed could be used for collecting and recycling batteries that turn up "in the wild." I suspect that pot of money would also be an attractive nuisance for corrupt government officials to enrich themselves in the process while provid
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Adding a "refund" for returning used batteries, like we used to do for cans, would effectively solve the problem. Just make the "refund" big enough.
Where does the "refund" money come from? The story is about underdeveloped countries, which are, in general, broke.
If you're going to say "people pay a deposit when they buy batteries," you're proposing to make the batteries more expensive. The people buying the batteries don't have spare money. But the refund will be a convenient incentive for thieves to steal batteries to turn in for the refund.
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The people buying the batteries don't have spare money.
Very few people have spare money.
he refund will be a convenient incentive for thieves to steal batteries to turn in for the refund.
Make the refund big enough to encourage returns but not big enough to be worth stealing for.
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The people buying the batteries don't have spare money.
Very few people have spare money.
Especially poor people. Which are the people we're talking about.
Where does the money come from?
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When I was a kid back in the late 70s and early 80s I used to go from house to house with my little red wagon asking for dead car batteries. My town also sits within a valley and people would dump washing machines, dryers, TVs, batteries, etc.. on the hill sides in the woods. I would also collect those batteries. The local scrap metal yard would give me $5 for each lead acid battery I brought to them. I made enough one year to purchase a TRS-80 PC2 pocket computer when I was 13 years old. I did the same thi
What is the point of this article? (Score:4, Insightful)
Those countries have the power to regulate battery usage and encourage recycling. Why aren't they doing that?
What's the "so what" of this article? I don't think you'll find anyone here who is going to opine that heavy metals pollution is a good thing. How are you going to encourage countries that don't seem to care about the problem to not poison themselves?
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Check the author. He writes a lot of crap on behalf of neoliberals, like about how it's okay for workers to die to get maimed in Bangladesh because that gives the factory owner a competitive edge in the free market.
Given that the title is misleading, the issue being lead acid batteries rather than solar, and that LFP batteries out of China are now cheaper per Wh than most lead acid ones, we can safely assume this is just an anti-environmental shill piece that he is hoping will boost fossil fuel usage for hi
It's informative. (Score:2)
What's the "so what" of this article?
Sometimes it's important to simply be aware that problems exist as there are not obvious answers. By informing readers, you can effectively provide them with a problem that they may have insight and motive to solve.
How are you going to encourage countries that don't seem to care about the problem to not poison themselves?
If developed nations shift production away lead-acid batteries and toward sodium ion batteries then it will shift the economics (globally) toward the production of manufacturing sodium ion batteries, leaving lead-acid batteries a relic of the past. It's a win-win because lead is still hazardous e
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To spread Fear Uncertainty and Doubt.
like Americans use in cars (Score:2)
' like Americans use in cars'
glad it's just Americans....
TL:DR (Score:2)
The problem is a lack of proper regulation/enforcement in developing countries, especially with regard to lead. As a result, people in South Asia are poisoning themselves and their land with cheap/profitable "recycling" of lead-acid batteries.
My conclusion is that this situation is a decent argument to push (possibly legislatively) lead-acid battery manufacturers to instead produce sodium ion batteries and that the link to solar power is purely incidental due to existing bad behavior (which is unlikely to b
Give them modern recycling plants (Score:2)
The massive energy needed for low tech dirty recycling methods can never compete with running costs of modern methods.
Once a developing country has sufficient modern plants for their needs, it will simply drive the dirty ones out of business.
Thermopiles (Score:2)
I found this part of the report instructive (Score:1)
Here is the first paragraph of section 3.3 - sounds like there is economic pressure that puts high quality recycling operations out of business and rewards low quality cheaper to implement recycling solutions that cause a lot of pollution and health affects. I'm sure cultural factors are also in play. How to align health concerns with profitability sounds like their challenge. I'm so glad the US got control of this issue a while back and hopefully knowledge can be shared and implemented to keep their renewa
Solar, eh? (Score:3)
"Solar In Poor Countries Is Creating a Huge Lead Hazard"
Good thing we use coal and petroleum to charge our cheap acid batteries; we should be safe from the lead hazard because they said it's solar that's creating the lead hazard.
Is writing proper headlines a lost art?
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Or, having electricity is harmful to human health. Better to stumble around in the dark and gather every scrap of wood to burn for cook fires.
Why not "Lead Batteries...." ?? (Score:2)
That's likely not going to be a problem (Score:2)
Lithium Ion batteries are already converging on the prices of lead-acid, soon they will be cheaper.
Even though there may not yet be a recycling system in place for lead-acid batteries... since there aren't to many of them, once there are more of them, they will get recycled or repaired. If costs are no issue, you can probably fix simple lead-acid batteries. Particularly if the work-force is cheap, things can become feasible that would be uneconomical here.
I mean it's very simple to fall into the "colonialis
ancient civilizations managed to ban swine (Score:2)
so what is preventing modern, even poor, civilizations from banning heavy metals? I mean other than capitalism constantly flooding their markets with this stuff.
proper recycling methods? (Score:2)
Since safer battery technologies and proper recycling methods already exist, the issue largely stems from cost and lack of regulation. In other words, the problem is solvable if addressed early.
Maybe USAID can help by explaining the proper recycling methods?
Also not recycled (Score:2)
A problem of education and knowlege. (Score:2)
This is - as are most other problems - a problem of education and knowledge. People just need to know and be aware what sort of damage lead does and change the way they handle it. If that awareness is there, well built lead-batteries are actually quite useful and affordable and can last a lifetime and longer if well built and maintained, turning an ecological hazard into something that eases the strain on the environment.