![]() More recently, researchers have attempted to develop similar frameworks to evaluate social life cycle assessments (S-LCA), which can be used to understand how emerging technologies affect human health and well-being. human costsįor years, researchers have been conducting environmental life cycle assessments (E-LCA), in which they comprehensively and systematically calculate the environmental impacts of a product all the way from the extraction of raw materials required to make it to its use and ultimate disposal. To conduct the case study, Dunn led an interdisciplinary team of engineers, anthropologists and public health experts. For many engineers, it’s easier to measure or calculate environmental effects than to understand the social conditions in a faraway country that they have never set foot in.”ĭunn is an associate professor of chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and associate director of the Center for Engineering Sustainability and Resilience. But when it comes to the social effects, we don’t have the same capability for direct comparison. “I can tell you the greenhouse gas emissions per mile for either one. “We have the framework and tools available to compare the environmental costs of automobiles that run on fossil fuels to battery-powered vehicles,” said Northwestern’s Jennifer Dunn, who led the study. The case study and perspective paper were published today (Dec. Such data can inform policymakers, industry leaders and consumers to make more socially and ethically responsible decisions when developing, funding and using green technologies. refinery too costly for now, but company officials are eying new federal funds aimed at boosting domestic mineral production that might help extend the mine's life cycle.While driving an electric car has fewer environmental impacts than gasoline-powered cars, the production of the parts necessary for these green technologies can have dire effects on human well-being.Īfter studying the impacts of mining cobalt - a common ingredient in lithium-ion batteries - on communities in Africa’s Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), an interdisciplinary team of researchers led by Northwestern University is calling for more data into how emerging technologies affect human health and livelihoods. The company projects an initial seven-year run. The cobalt from the Idaho mine will be shipped to a refinery Jervois is refurbishing in São Paulo, Brazil, to be processed. So companies will be jockeying to secure reliable sources of it, domestically and from allied countries, as how China will use its control over most DRC cobalt is uncertain. Still, Martin says the future is electrification of global energy grids, and cobalt plays a key role. Workers at Idaho Cobalt Operations watch a ceremony opening the mine Oct. "To think that we're going to be able to move all this back into the United States in short order and be self sufficient is not right." "It will be a while before we can actually say that this is going to be a growth industry," says Brad Martin, director of the RAND National Security Supply Chain Institute. Enough for several hundred thousand electric cars, the company says. Once fully operational, the Idaho mine is expected to meet only about 10% of overall U.S. The $100 million enterprise that publicly traded Jervois is launching will, even at full production, amount to a small blip in the global market. "So we viewed it as a strategically important asset for the country." "Idaho's is the only cobalt mine in the United States and it's going to remain so," Crocker says. Most of its production goes to China, which also controls most cobalt refining globally. Most of the cobalt mined in the world today comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where there are widespread child labor and other human rights problems. "This is geopolitically significant because the U.S. "I think this is a really important development for the U.S.," Crocker says. ![]() ![]() The Jervois mine is also mostly underground and will be capped once operations end, unlike the old, large open pit. ![]() It polluted local trout streams, but Jervois Global CEO Bryce Crocker says environmental safeguards are in place for this generation's mine, including $44 million set aside for cleanup, as required by federal law should something unexpected happen. The old mine, shuttered in 1982, was also the only cobalt mine in the U.S.
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