EDITORIAL

Mike Halls • editor@batteriesinternational.com

Greenhouses gases? They’re great for batteries!

Thank heavens for CO 2! That’s not something you hear very often as the world lurches into what the media are cheerily calling a climate crisis.

Yes, that pesky carbon dioxide that’s been plaguing scientists’ nightmares for the last 30 years is creating exciting times for the battery industry — no matter what flavour of chemistry you’re working in.

And the reason for it all?

A huge turn-around in our perception of energy storage has occurred.

Although the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2016 was a public announcement that the world was going to get serious about climate change, little seemed — on the surface at any rate — to have happened. Controlling CO2 levels seemed to drop from mention by the world’s media.

So when the former US president Donald Trump announced in June 2017 that he wanted to leave the accord, it looked as if it was all dead in the water.

But, behind the scenes, climate change and decarbonization were never off the agenda.

European governments may have taken their time but they did set out bold legislation to ease out fossil fuels and introduce renewables. In the US, big business happily ignored presidential chatter on promoting the coal industry. Equally importantly two of the largest greenhouse gas emitters — China and India — said they too were going to get serious about CO 2 . Getting serious about CO2 means getting serious about renewables and their corollary, energy storage. The announcement in early June by US president Joe Biden that he was going to make a huge commitment to the battery industry has refocused the country, and to a lesser extent the world, on the importance of energy storage.

Early indications that there will be a shortage of everything from raw materials to expertise as the world tries to build some 211 gigafactories (current estimate) means that there will be a demand for all battery types.

This means it’s not just good news for lithium but also lead, nickel and a wide range of alternative energy storage devices.

So this September’s meetings in San Diego should hopefully be approached in a mood of celebration for some good years ahead. And a better decarbonized future for us all.

For the past eight years Batteries International has worked with Battery Council International to produce its annual Yearbook, which is distributed to all BCI members and attendees at the annual convention in the spring.

This year, due to the pandemic, parts of the regular annual business of BCI had to be conducted virtually in April and the convention and power mart for San Diego had to be delayed until September.

This is the second draft of the annual Yearbook. The final version will will be printed and handed to delegates when we all get to meet up in San Diego.

I hope that this will whet your appetite for what promises to be a superlative event!

Best wishes until then!

Mike Halls, editor

Publisher: Karen Hampton, karen@batteriesinternational.com +44 779 852 337

Editor: Michael Halls, editor@batteriesinternational.com +44 7977 016 918

Assistant editor: Debbie Mason, debbie@batteriesinternational.com +44 1243 782 275

Sales manager: Jade Beevor, jade@energystoragejournal.com +44 77920 90720 Business development manager Juanita Anderson, juanita@batteriesinternational.com

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Special reports editor Wyn Jenkins, wyn.jenkins@serenglobalmedia.com +44 1792 293 222

Staff reporter: Hillary Taylor-McCaffery hillary@batteriesinternational.com Design and production: Antony Parselle, aparselledesign@me.com +44 1604 632 663

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