Critical sustainability issues in the production of wind and solar electricity generation as well as storage facilities and possible solutions
Sophie Theresia Huber, Karl W. Steininger
Abstract
Extended implementation of renewable energy technologies is vital to limit global warming. However, there are critical sustainability issues connected to the production of wind turbines, solar photovoltaic modules, electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries. These include the use of conflict minerals, toxicity, and finite availability or supply chain governance risks of rare earth elements, cobalt, and lithium, that need to be taken into consideration. “Conflict minerals” refer to tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold, and their current mining is frequently linked to human rights violations and the financing of violent conflicts. This article focuses on one conflict mineral used in solar panels, tin, the three rare earth elements praseodymium, dysprosium and neodymium, mainly used in permanent magnets that are employed in wind turbines and electric motors in electric vehicles, and lithium and cobalt, as they are needed in lithium-ion batteries for solar and wind energy technologies, and electric vehicles. Focusing on these we identify unfavorable implications of using these elements, including issues of lacking transparency and human rights violations, toxicity and finite availability. Alleviating measures are reviewed for their past contributions as well as their future potential to reduce supply chain risks. These include analyzing the supply chain according to ethical standards, extending regulations beyond the scope of conflict minerals, looking for possible minerals or component substitutes, somewhat diverse across these fields, and increasing the minerals’ recycling rates.