Graham Foster ’21: Multidisciplinary Learning Competency | University of Portland

Graham Foster ’21: Multidisciplinary Learning Competency

The Effect of Batteries on Humans and the Environment 

The future of sustainability energy, at least in the near term, is inextricably linked with batteries. Lithium-ion batteries have dominated the technological world in the last few decades, being responsible for the rechargeable batteries that are able to fit inside of smartphones, laptop computers, and more recently electric vehicles. As more devices become reliant on electrical power instead of traditional sources powered by fossil fuels, batteries will become more important. If renewable sources like wind and solar are ever able to replace fossil fuels, the energy required will need to come from a stored source such as a battery in order to power a home at night when the sun isn’t shining or when the wind isn’t blowing. While battery technology has evolved significantly from lead-acid batteries, there are still some concerns with their use, both environmentally and as a human rights issue. However, the increasing need to move away from burning fossil fuels as a primary energy source necessitates that a technology like lithium-ion batteries be used to avoid serious environmental consequences like unhealthy air, rising sea levels, and increased occurrences of drought and forest fires linked directly with climate change and the increase of carbon in the Earth’s atmosphere. Examining the ethics of using lithium-ion batteries as a source for storing electrical power requires investigating into how they are constructed, and how those involved with production are affected, and how they impact small populations versus the entire planet both now and into the future.

Efficient energy storage is essential for the growth of renewable energy sources. There are many options available, such as pumped hydro, compressed gas, flow batteries, and thermal storage, but portable devices such as vehicles and cell phones require energy dense batteries to make them viable. Energy density is the amount of energy that can be stored in a certain volume, which is incredibly important for technology that relies on weight or space. Smaller, lighter, and more powerful car batteries will allow vehicles to travel faster and farther in a single charge. The emergence of electric vehicles from companies like Tesla, Ford, BMW, and Nissan, and the reception that they have received makes it clear that electric vehicles will be in demand as a car choice for many people. As more electric vehicles are manufactured, the price of them will continue to decrease, which coupled with the lower lifecycle costs of these vehicles will continue to disrupt the automotive industry as many people switch to electric cars. Still, the largest hurdle that many of these automakers encounter is how to allow their batteries to charge quickly and increase the distance the cars can travel. This is why lithium-ion batteries are so important, as they provide tremendous energy density as well as the ability to return charge to the battery quickly.

Cobalt is one of the key heavy metals utilized in lithium-ion batteries, extending battery life and increasing energy density. These two features are key in the expansion of the electric vehicle industry especially, as vehicle range and battery weight are two of the issues that are holding EVs back when compared to traditional combustion engine vehicles. The demand for cobalt is extremely high, but the process for extracting the metal is much more complicated, both from a mining and humanitarian perspective. Over half of the world’s supply of cobalt comes from the congo, a country known for its mining of “conflict minerals” such as tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold. These minerals are highly valuable for the technology industry and have been associated with inhumane working conditions and using their sale to fund wars that have killed or displaced millions. Cobalt has not been linked to the same allegations of war, but the working conditions often result in deaths from mining accidents or the high level of toxins associated with the removal of cobalt from the ground. The Washington Post has reported that the global demand for cobalt in lithium-ion batteries will double by the year 2025, so production of cobalt will need to increase to keep up with that demand [1]. In order to do so ethically, it’s important to look into how people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are being affected by current mining practices, and how ramping up demand may change their situation.

There are two common methods for how cobalt is mined in the DRC. About 80% of the cobalt comes from industrial mines that are run by corporations, however, one-fifth of the cobalt production comes from what are called “artisanal mines” [1]. This misleading name describes impoverished workers mining outside of the industrial environment without proper equipment or safety regulations. Artisanal mines are responsible for more cobalt production than any country outside of the DRC, second only to the industrial mines of the congo [1]. These artisanal mines are dangerous because of the lack of proper tools, lack of regulation, and potential health hazards that come along with mining cobalt. The cheap cobalt benefits companies that use it in their lithium ion-batteries, but only result in the workers in the artisanal mines making the equivalent of a few dollars a day. These low wages drive up profits for the companies buying the cobalt, but they leave the artisanal miners in an incredibly dangerous work cycle where they put their lives at risk in order to support themselves and their families. The Washington Post article makes it clear that miners are aware of how dangerous their working conditions are, but without the income from mining cobalt they would be unable to afford simple items such as flour for themselves and their families. Children laborers are also a staple in mines in the DRC, accounting for about 40,000 of the workers in 2012 [1]. The mining practices affect entire families, as those living near cobalt mines or smelters had urinary concentrations of cobalt of 40 times than normal, lead concentrations five times higher, and four times the level of cadmium and uranium concentration. Current studies are looking into how this may affect thyroid and breathing issues, but it seems clear that exposure to cobalt mining practices causes birth defects at a minimum. These artisanal mines provide work for the Congolese and cheap cobalt for the rest of the world, but at what cost? As sustainable energy sources become more prevalent throughout the world, it seems logical that the supply chain behind them be sustainable, not only environmentally, but also from a human rights perspective for those that supply the labor and materials.

For companies like Tesla, Apple, Samsung, and others who rely on lithium-ion batteries for their products, there has been a push in recent years to ethically source their supply chain, much like tin, tantalum, tungsten and diamonds in the past. The question of how this would affect the price of the end consumer is unclear, but it seems a moral responsibility of these tech companies to ensure that they are not complicit in human rights violations that result in a cheaper product. Deontological ethics would suggest that the mining and purchasing of cobalt should be done in a safe matter because it is the right thing to do, regardless of how the cobalt may affect the end user and the performance of a battery. Increasing safety and quality of life for the people responsible for mining the metal is moral in itself.  However, one of the major issues that companies encounter is that they are not directly responsible for mining the cobalt, as they typically use a third-party company to procure it for them. As that supply chain reaches back to places like the DRC it becomes more difficult to track where the cobalt is coming from, especially when cost is a factor. Artisanal cobalt is almost always cheaper than cobalt mined from a regulated industrial operation, and suppliers looking to cut costs have taken advantage of that in the past. People may advocate for large companies to avoid sourcing their cobalt from the congo, as that would completely remove them from any ethical or moral complications associated with mining there. However, completely avoiding cobalt from the congo would have disastrous economic effects on the country and the people that rely in the income from mining it. Cobalt is now an established industry in the DRC and completely cutting ties with the country would be irresponsible from a human rights perspective for these companies; instead, more work needs to be done to ensure that the mining practices and conditions follow environmental and ethical guidelines to protect the people living near and working on these mines.

Utilitarianism, an ethical and moral principle popularized by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, prioritizes the maximum amount of happiness for the maximum amount of people. In a vacuum, this numbers game seems easy, but when applied to more specific cases like what is happening to artisanal miners and their families in the congo, it becomes more complex. However, batteries that cut down on human carbon emissions will affect the whole world’s response to climate change, so it’s important to examine what the consequences of not having large scale battery storage will be on a global scale. In the US alone, transportation accounts for almost 30% of yearly carbon emissions; with electric vehicles being powered by renewable sources that number could theoretically be almost eliminated. The consequences for not reducing carbon emissions are well known; more frequent forest fires, stronger hurricanes, and rising sea levels to name a few. Rising sea levels is one of the most pressing issues, as it has the potential to displace over 200 million people by 2100 [2]. Bangladesh is a good example of this problem, as two-thirds of the country is less than five meters above sea level [3]. When sea levels rise, millions of people will be forced to flee the country as a result of their land, homes, and lives being destroyed. Utilitarian thought could suggest that fighting rising sea levels would maximize more happiness than the plight of miners in the congo, and therefore should be prioritized. This is where utilitarian theory really starts to break down, as it becomes more of a numbers game on the surface and does not take the complexities of each situation into consideration.

As the world seeks more solutions for energy storage, it is unlikely that batteries that use metals like lithium, nickel, and cobalt will be phased out. Cobalt in particular has been identified as a metal that battery companies are trying to reduce or remove while still retaining the same amount of energy storage. In order to power our laptops, cellphones, and electric vehicles these energy dense and highly portable energy sources will be needed. However, it is important to understand where these batteries come from and push as consumers and producers to create a supply chain that is sustainable both from an environmental and human rights perspective. The ethics of the future of energy storage needs to account for both the needs of small communities like that of the DRC, and also the overall health of a warming world due to carbon emissions. The principles of deontological ethics and utilitarianism will help guide decisions in making these technologies available and sustainable for everyone involved. The future of renewable sustainable energy is exciting and is progressing towards being able to provide the world with decarbonized sources of power, but it is important that it is done in such a way that it will benefit everybody. 

Works Cited

[1]. Frankel, Todd C. “This Is Where Your Smartphone Battery Begins.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 30 Sept. 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/business/batteries/congo-cobalt-mining-for-lithium-ion-battery/?tid=a_inl.

[2]. “Report: Flooded Future: Global Vulnerability to Sea Level Rise Worse than Previously Understood.” Climate Central, 29 Oct. 2019, www.climatecentral.org/news/report-flooded-future-global-vulnerability-to-sea-level-rise-worse-than-previously-understood.

[3]. “Climate Displacement in Bangladesh.” Environmental Justice Foundation, ejfoundation.org/reports/climate-displacement-in-bangladesh.