Projects

Develop a set of green energy storage principles for mobile applications to guide design, deployment, and responsible life cycle management of battery technologies. The Center for Sustainable Systems (CSS) at the University of Michigan will engage stakeholders to develop and refine these principles for the Responsible Battery Coalition (RBC).
Green energy storage principles can be a valuable resource in support of the mission of the Responsible Battery Coalition (RBC) to develop sustainable and responsible battery management solutions. Green principles have been used widely by industry and practitioners, in both chemistry and engineering. These sets of principles are generic and due to the unique management challenges of energy storage systems, we developed a set of principles specific to green energy storage systems for grid applications [3]. The goal of this work was to improve environmental outcomes when integrating energy storage systems into the power grid. CSS is also currently developing vehicle lightweighting principles for LIFT (Lightweighting Innovations for Tomorrow), a national consortium of working member organizations from OEMs, suppliers, academia, research institutes, professional societies, and workforce development organizations, who are seeking to develop and deploy advanced lightweight materials manufacturing technologies.
The impact of battery design and life cycle management strategies varies between stationary and mobile applications. For example, battery weight is a key design parameter in mobile applications that influences fuel economy and use-phase impacts. Specific guidance is needed to elucidate tradeoffs (e.g., material production vs use phase impacts) and quantify the environmental merit of vehicle battery design and management strategies. We propose to develop a set of principles to provide practical guidance, metrics, and methods to accelerate environmental improvements of mobile battery applications. The principles will serve multiple audiences including designers, suppliers, OEMs, and end-of-life managers with the goal of enhancing stewardship and sustainable life cycle management by guiding design, material choice, and deployment of battery storage systems in mobile applications. These principles will be applicable to new and emerging technologies, as well as enhancing the stewardship of existing battery systems. Case study examples will be used to demonstrate the implementation of the principles. We will also highlight the trade-offs that emerge from competing principles.