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Batteries, don't give me no stinking batteries! I want direct power!

So sad! We have the Power over Ethernet (PoE) spec which offers so much! Why can’t we get this off the ground?

78 million batteries will be dumped worldwide every day by 2025 if we do not improve the life span for powering IoT devices, according to EnABLES, an EU funded European Research Infrastructure project involving Tyndall National Institute,  CEA-Leti, CEA-Liten, Fraunhofer IIS, Fraunhofer IMS, imec, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Polytechnic University of Turin, University of Bologna, University of Perugia and the University of Southampton

Battery dump

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Unless we radically change our way of thinking there will be no real change. As great and as fast as the development of new battery technology is, Lithium is going to be the next new oil as has been long predicted. from 2020 and here in 2015 We are doing nothing but substituting one non-renewable substance for another. There will be a big shift in geopolitical powers but no change for us or our planet. Absolutely will we have less immediate pollution but in the long run we will have done wrong again. What do we think lithium mining looks like and what it does to the environment? It is going to continue to be Profit before People/Planet :-(

Time to rethink what we are doing and may be we need to consider using Baghdad Batteries to power the next model iPhone.

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@oldturkey03 - Oil is not the answer! Nor is coal. Fusion reactors may be the safest approach but still to early to tell.

For me its solar and wind. Here in Boston we have the option to get out power from renewable sources and we Cape Wind is where I've placed my bet for now.

I agree Lithium mining is not clean, but with better recycling of old batteries we should be able to soften the need. I haven't see any cost breakdown as well as suability of used Lithium

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@danj nobody will ever said oil or coal are the answer. Not sure where that came from. What it is saying is that Lithium is not the final answer either. It is not any better than oil or coal or any other non-renewable over time. The problem with Sun and wind is still the same. The energy produced still has to be stored since most of it won't be used at the time of production. How do you store it? There are the batteries again, with Lithium Ion leading. Even with the largest battery in @jayeff neighborhood the Australian Hornsdale Power Reserve has some severe limitations. What mess do you think we are going to have on our hands when these "a 300-megawatt lithium-ion battery is currently being readied for operation, with another 100-megawatt battery to come online in 2021." from here are depleted. There has to be a better way of storing all this energy. Time to work on it now before it becomes another problem. What's the plan?

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@oldturkey03 "Baghdad Batteries" is Oil is it not?

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Yes, there is better ways to store energy! And it's not Lithium Ion batts.

The simplest is hydro pumping water from one reservoir to another which is up a sizable hill, then using a turbine to generate power from gravity. The next one is flywheels, storing it kinetically, the last ones off the top of my head is sodium salts based storage or lead acid batteries.

But before you worry about storage it is only an issue when the demand is when either the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing. Using both allows you to reduce the storage need.

And the last improvement is using better power lines! Most of our grid is over 30 years old! Better cable, transformers and switch gear is available which doesn't loose as much in the transmission. And that also gets into to exposed to hackers!

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@danj no it's not. Baghdad Battery ==>>ceramic vessel, copper rod and iron rod submersed in electrolytic acid like wine or vinegar (but no oil in it :-)

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Dan will be eternally grateful.