Leiden University, one of the most important BALIHT’s partners, proposes a new holistic approach assessing the safety, sustainability, and performance of batteries.
Through Life-Cycle Thinking principles, the study of the entire value chain and a rigorous examination of batteries components, this integrated approach aims at establishing the best compromise between sustainability requirements, safety standards and performance for batteries. They advise battery manufacturers to conduct these assessments as early as possible in the innovation process to ensure a green and sustainable purpose.
The shift towards a fundamentally different energy system requires drastic changes. This is why the next-generation batteries should by, “by-design”, aware of those requirements and act pre-emptively to interiorise those changes. Leiden University tried its method out on 22 batteries. They identified the environmental and economic impact of those batteries and considered the social and safety aspects as an illustrative case for SSbD application. But to complete this approach, clear lacks of toxicity and Life-Cycle-Assessment data in the early stages of innovation must be addressed.
You may find the full paper: here.