Lithium! Lets Make Some...
 

Solar panels...Lithium Batteries... What do you do with them after they have reached the end of life? That's an uncomfortable topic...So how about just making the stuff?

The open mines and the huge environmental cost there is JUST the beginning. NIMBY (Not in my back yard) applies here SO- Lets jump a step or two and process and refine some... and lets be sure to exploit some third world country while we are at it...

as a review -mining:

Processing is the real nasty process:

The common environmental side effects of lithium mining are water loss, ground destabilization, biodiversity loss, increased salinity of rivers, contaminated soil and toxic waste.

After the brine is pumped out from underneath the salt flat, it is left to evaporate through a series of ponds for 12–18 months, forming a mixture of potassium, magnesium, borax and lithium salts. For a ton of lithium, over 1 million gallons of water are required. The majority of this is lost to the sky in evaporation .

So for the locals lithium extraction inevitably harms the soil and causes air contamination and and diverts scarce water resources away from local communities.

Food for thought when considering how "green" an EV actually is.

Yep, the writing on the wall is lithium mining WILL be opening up within our borders, then it'll be exposed for what it is....until then it's just a myth to most.

The current incentives and timelines are pushing the extraction and not incentivizing the safe mining and recycling methods. This has backfired on us many times throughout history and we will pay the price with our health, again.

This is sad!

Drilling for oil, oils spills, oil refining, methane leaks and flaring give off CO2, not to mention when those products are used (burned, more CO2 and NOX). Its all a sh*t show. Lets go back to Amish living! :)

Maybe someone can also post pics of oil wells, coal mines, oil spills, Exxon Valdez, Three Mile Island, pipelines, Fracking etc ? Study anything long enough you can figure out ways to say something is bad.

Yes, but hope we have learned from all the previous mistakes. If this is a real problem, we should have solutions. Whether the lithium is mined here or other countries. Also, perhaps future solar panel & battery technology advances will eliminate the need in the near future.

Oil is still a major base element of Li battery construction too

The issue is the constant push for “Green” technology-that upon examination almost completely relies on the technology it is replacing and actually is worse for the environment than what it is Intended to replace.

A first time visitor to Syncrude’s oil sands operations in Northern Alberta Canada might be surprised to see a herd of wood bison casually grazing on field grasses on the site, but they are symbolic of the company’s promise to provide a sustainable ecosystem for future generations long after its operations have ended.

Click for full story... https://cosia.ca/blog/vision-former-mine-sites

Some industries are genuinely trying to cleanup their act along with the environment. Canada's oil sands (referred to as "tar sands" by the media) are a naturally occurring environmental hazard that is steadily being cleaned up by companies mining the sand, extracting the oil and reclaiming the land.

Anyone read anything about the migratory birds that make these future lithium mines home for parts of the year? Has to be devastating for them. We live in the biggest oil production county in Ks. and after the life of a well you literally have to have a map to tell were the well used to be. Also live in a county with lots of wind turbines. Those have a 30ft deep cement base in the ground and supposed to have a life span of 20 years. They have a crew that can’t keep them all going at once. The only thing green about any of it is the $$$

Fracking, mining, drilling it's all invasive. You can go down a very deep rabbit hole on pollution whether it's in the ground or in the air.

Whatever your preference in propulsion power may be, I'm guessing it's the internal combustion engine since we are all suckers for gasoline gulping antiquated hunks of metal, oil will still be drilled for a long time to come. Petroleum products are in almost everything we use daily including many parts in an electric car. Not to mention the 65,000 gallons of fuel a container ship burns daily on it's trip across the ocean:hmmm:

Hot topic news events
 

There are a lot of proposed changes and future technologies. This brings about debate and differing opinions. I rather that we all focus on our hobby/musclecars.

There are plenty of sites that delve into these newsworthy hot topics such as this. As I stated before this site as I envision is an oasis from the day-to-day critical new topics.

Everyone is playing nice, but hope my post brings us back to our core focus, our passions for the hobby. If there is specific new legislation that may impact our hobby that would be more beneficial.

I am not trying to stifle topics, but rather we focus on the mission of this site.