The European Union is about to have a new battery recycling law:
It says a quarter of all used batteries must be collected by 2012 – rising to 45% by 2016 – and that at least half of them must be recycled.
This is just peachy, because batteries are just full of all kinds of unpleasant crap, like acids and heavy metals. And this kind of program would be difficult to implement in America, where industry could argue that it’s just too damn expensive-handing all that unpleasant crap is not cheap. With this in mind, I bring you the very first edition of Yay! Science!
Solid state flexible batteries.
Brand-spanking new batteries that will usher in an Orwellian age of smartcards and RFID tags – problems that can be handled with laws if we ever manage to shake off this theocratic monarchy and get ourselves some sort of democracy. In the meantime, the new batteries are more enviornmentally friendly, produce equivalent or more power from a smaller-than-conventional battery (getting rid of the acid-and the stuff necessary to contain the acid- is really helpful), and good for thousands of recharges. Initially they will be used in medical applications and RFID tags, you know, small stuff. In the future, however, they could get big enough and powerful enough to drive our electric cars, which by then better damn well be flying electric cars that drive themselves, because I’m going to need cooler stuff as this Yay! Science! bit develops. Hint hint, MIT.