Digitalise sustainably by replacing batteries
Batteries are an essential component of many electronic devices, providing the power that enable them to function throughout their lifecycle. Even though there are several types of batteries available, they all have a range of negative environmental impacts, depending on their type, composition, and how they are produced, used, and disposed of.
The most urgent type to address is single-use batteries, also known as disposable batteries, since they are used only once before being disposed of, have a relatively short life span, and require 50 times more energy to produce than what they give. They have a serious impact on depletion of non-renewable resources, such as minerals and metals extracted from the earth, and the production and disposal also generate air and water pollution as well as put a strain on waste management systems, both drivers in replacing single-use batteries by rechargeable batteries.
Some have come quite far in the awareness and ambition to replace the non-rechargeable batteries, for example IKEA expressed this already in 2020, and EU is continuously pushing for more regulation. But rechargeable batteries also have issues. They require even more of toxic materials to produce and can become a hazard when recharging if they turn hot, emit smoke, and even turn aflame. For low-power devices the obvious option should be self-powering technology.
Rechargeable batteries for low-power devices can be designed to be more sustainable in how they are recharged. Instead of connecting your rechargeable device to the outlet with a cable, there are several solutions that offer self-powering capacity. It is all about the multiples — in 2025 the estimated amount of connected IoT devices on the planet will exceed 30 billion. That is a lot of batteries and/or cables — and a lot of energy which could be better used elsewhere.
When replacing single-use batteries or adding self-powering capacity to electronic devices, it is important to consider the sustainability and cost of the technologies available. Of course, we need to be mindful to choose options that does not add new toxic or harmful materials, methods that require considerable amounts of energy in production and/or add CO2 emissions in the supply chains. By choosing more sustainable alternatives, we can reduce waste, pollution and total energy consumption as well as contribute to a more sustainable future.
The responsibility now falls heavily on all device manufacturing companies to not stay content with current battery solutions but to update the design of their products with sustainable energy storage solutions, like Ligna super capacitor, that will admit intermittent power production to be topped up continuously and over time.
There are several energy harvesting technologies to consider when making low-power devices self-powered. Suffice to say is that none of the alternatives in and by itself will be able to cover all different applications, given the requirements in power production, design and functionality features.
One way to harvest energy is by motion as has been suggested by Kinetron for quite some time. The limitation for motion harvesting energy would obviously be for applications that are mainly stationary. Another example to harvest energy is by RF as more recently explored by Onio. The limitations for RF energy harvesting are the unknown or unpredictable availability of RF and which frequencies to use or being interfered by. And then, of cause, energy can be harvested by light, successfully done by several companies like Epishine and Exeger to power sensors and consumer wearables. Light energy harvesting from Peafowl Plasmonics is unique by the transparency that will allow endless design options to make aesthetically appealing devices or to make self-powering entirely invisible. Any light energy harvesting solution may also have limitations in environments with low or unpredictable light sources.
Regardless of which energy harvesting technology is chosen, the number of batteries, both disposable and rechargeable, is bound to decrease in the light of increased awareness about the harmful effects of producing, using and disposing of batteries and the innovative technologies being developed to replace them. There are countless advantages by further exploring the different ways to harvest energy when and where it is needed and from sources that are already available and in abundance, for the benefit of the environment, the society, and the planet.
