Part 5: The Battery Recycling Dilemma
The Big Switch
This is the final episode of a five-part series exploring the lithium-ion battery supply chain. If you haven’t listened to the first four episodes, we recommend you start there. So far over this season we've traced the global lithium-ion battery supply chain from mining to processing to manufacturing. And we've put it all into a geopolitical and economic context. In this final installment of our five-part series, we come to the end of the road for a battery. There are a lot of technical innovations on the horizon when it comes to battery recycling. But are we anywhere close to...
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Part 4: The Great Battery Manufacturing Race
The Big Switch
This is the fourth episode of a five-part series exploring the lithium-ion battery supply chain. If you haven’t listened to the first three episodes, we recommend you start there. China has been the world's biggest battery manufacturer for over a decade. Chinese companies got in the game early, building an industry from scratch in the 2000s. By 2022, according to the IEA, China manufactured 76% of the world's batteries. But that’s changing. Battery factories in the U.S. and around the world are running 24/7 to churn out millions of cells – thanks to growing demand for storage...
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Part 3: The High Stakes for Battery Ingredients
The Big Switch
This is the third episode of a five-part series exploring the lithium-ion battery supply chain. If you haven’t listened to the first two episodes, we recommend you start there. Batteries can replace gasoline in our cars, or diesel in our generators, with electricity. But batteries and petroleum-based fuels share something in common: they both rely on energy-intensive processes to turn extracted materials into something useful. The middle stage of the lithium-ion supply chain is called processing – and it's a critical one. To make lots of affordable batteries, we have to process a lot...
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Part 2: The Mining Conundrum For Critical Minerals
The Big Switch
This is the second episode of a five-part series exploring the lithium-ion battery supply chain. If you haven’t listened to the first episode, we recommend you start there. To produce enough batteries to reach global net-zero goals, the International Energy Agency says we'll need to increase production of critical minerals by six fold by 2040. It's a monumental task. It can feel like a contradictory mission. To save the planet, we have to mine more minerals; but mining and processing those minerals increases emissions and often negatively impacts indigenous communities and the...
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Part 1: Are Batteries the New Oil?
The Big Switch
We need to electrify much of the global economy in order to hit net-zero emissions by 2050. That means installing a lot of batteries in our cars, buildings, and across the grid to balance vast amounts of wind and solar. The supply chain behind all those batteries could be worth nearly half a trillion dollars by 2030. Whoever controls that supply chain has enormous power – figuratively and literally. In this episode, we explore the stakes of the battery-based transition. We’ll open up a lithium-ion battery, investigate what's inside it, and ask whether critical minerals will...
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A preview of season 4: Batteries are taking over the world
The Big Switch
Batteries are finding their way into everything – from cars to heavy equipment to the electric grid. But scaling up production to meet the demands of a net-zero economy is complicated and contentious. In this 5-episode season, we’re digging into the ways batteries are made and asking: what gets mined, traded, and consumed on the road to decarbonization? Season 4 of The Big Switch drops Feb 28th. Listen on , , or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Degrees: The fastest electric vehicle fleet makeover in the West
The Big Switch
This week, we’re running an episode of , from our friends at Environmental Defense Fund: Degrees is an action hub for green job seekers to find career guidance and connect to a community of mentors, especially now that green jobs are among the fastest growing jobs globally, surging over 237% in the past five years. The new season of Degrees, “How to Green Your Job,” is out now wherever you listen to podcasts. Make sure you check out other Degrees episodes about how the green jobs transformation is shaping the future. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. And as for The Big...
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Part 5: A Crisis Reshapes the Energy Transition
The Big Switch
This is the fifth episode of a five-part series exploring the European energy crisis in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. If you haven’t listened to the first four episodes, we recommend you start there. In March of 2022, European officials unveiled a plan to push their energy transition much further, much faster – and rid their dependence on Russian fossil fuels. REPowerEU was ambitious, but it raised lots of questions about whether it would lock Europe into new dependencies. In this episode, we take a step back and ask: what are the consequences of the energy crisis...
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Part 4: Heat Pumps for Peace
The Big Switch
This is the fourth episode of a five-part series exploring the European energy crisis in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. If you haven’t listened to the first three episodes, we recommend you start there. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many Germans and Poles installed heat pumps and residential solar panels to reduce their dependence on Russian fossil fuels. But do the countries have the skilled workforce they need to meet rapidly growing demand? In this episode, we examine the role of these technologies in building the net-zero economy—and how supply chain...
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Part 3: Poland’s Coal Legacy and Nuclear Future
The Big Switch
This is the third episode of a five-part series exploring the European energy crisis in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. If you haven’t listened to the first two episodes, we recommend you start there. Even with a plan to phase down fossil fuel use, Poland still gets 70% of its electricity from coal. Can a country so dependent on coal make the transition to green energy effectively—and quickly? In this episode, we explore the consequences of Poland’s historical reliance on coal. It's a story that begins at COP24 in Poland, where a coal miners marching band welcomed climate...
info_outlineSt. James Parish, Louisiana sits in the middle of an 85-mile corridor along the Mississippi river that’s home to more than 150 petrochemical plants. This concentration of petrochemical facilities has taken a toll on the health of nearby communities – a toll that falls disproportionately on Black communities. Cancer risk in some parts of this corridor is more than 50 times the national average, giving it the moniker ‘cancer alley.’
In 2018, a new petrochemical plant was announced – one that would double pollution in St. James Parish and emit tons of carcinogens like benzene and formaldehyde. For Sharon Lavigne, a retired special education teacher turned environmental justice organizer, it was time to fight back.
Last week, we talked about decarbonizing the petrochemicals industry. This week, we’re talking about the public health and environmental justice costs of petrochemicals. What does an environmentally just future look like? And how can we get there?
Guests: Sharon Lavigne is an environmental justice advocate and the founder of Rise St. James. Dr. Robert Bullard is a distinguished professor of urban planning and environmental policy and director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University.
The Big Switch is produced by Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy in partnership with Post Script Media. This episode was produced by Alexandria Herr and Daniel Woldorff. Theme music and mixing by Sean Marquand. Story editing by Anne Bailey. A special thanks to Natalie Volk, Kirsten Smith and Kyu Lee. Our executive editor is Stephen Lacey.