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The industrial ecology of lead and electric vehicles

  • Chapter
Managing a Material World

Part of the book series: Environment & Policy ((ENPO,volume 13))

Abstract

The lead battery has the potential to become one of the first examples of a hazardous product managed in an environmentally acceptable fashion. The tools of industrial ecology are helpful in identifying the key criteria that an ideal lead-battery recycling system must meet to achieve “clean recycling”: maximal recovery of batteries after use, minimal export of used batteries to countries where environmental controls are weak, minimal impact on the health of communities near lead-processing facilities, and maximal worker protection from lead exposure in these facilities. The likelihood that the lead battery will provide peaking power for several kinds of hybrid vehicles, a role only recently identified, increases the importance of understanding the levels of performance achieved and achievable in battery recycling. A management system closely approaching clean recycling should be achievable.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, Princeton University, USA

    Robert H. Socolow & Valerie M. Thomas

Authors
  1. Robert H. Socolow
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  2. Valerie M. Thomas
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Environmental Studies, Free University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Pier Vellinga  & Joyeeta Gupta  & 

  2. Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

    Frans Berkhout

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Socolow, R.H., Thomas, V.M. (1998). The industrial ecology of lead and electric vehicles. In: Vellinga, P., Berkhout, F., Gupta, J. (eds) Managing a Material World. Environment & Policy, vol 13. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5125-2_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5125-2_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-5206-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-5125-2

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