Environmental Science 15th Edition by Scott Spoolman,Tyler Miller

Exercise 1

THE SEARCH FOR BETTER BATTERIES
The major obstacle standing in the way of wider use of plug-in hybridelectric and all-electric vehicles is the need for an affordable, small, lightweight, and easily rechargeable car battery that can store enough energy to power a vehicle over long distances.
One promising type of battery is the lithium-ion battery, commonly used in laptop computers and cell phones. These batteries are light (because lithium is the lightest solid chemical element) and can pack a lot of energy into a small space. They can be hooked together to power hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and all-electric motor vehicles.
Much of the current research on batteries involves nanotechnology (see Science Focus 12.1, p. 300). For example, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a new type of lithium-ion battery using such technology. It is less expensive and can be charged 40 times faster than the batteries that are used to power many of today's hybrid vehicles.
MIT researcher Angela Belcher is working on another new type of battery. She has genetically engineered a virus that can coat itself with electricityconducting materials to form a tiny nanowire. Belcher is trying to find ways to link these wires up to form the components of a battery far more compact and powerful than any yet developed. Such viral batteries would essentially grow themselves without producing the toxic wastes often associated with battery production and recycling.
Scientists have also developed ultracapacitors, which are small batteries that quickly store and release large amounts of electrical energy, thus providing the power needed for quick acceleration. They can be recharged in minutes, can hold a charge much longer than conventional batteries, and don't have to be replaced as frequently as conventional batteries. Researchers are working on increasing their energy storage capacity and reducing their costs per unit of energy produced. A promising candidate is a graphene (see Science Focus 12.2, p. 302) supercapacitor with an energy storage capacity comparable to that of a long-life battery.
If any one or a combination of these or other new battery technologies can be mass-produced at an affordable cost, plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles could take over the car and truck market within a few decades, which would greatly reduce air pollution and climate-changing CO₂ emissions. GREEN CAREER: Battery engineer
Critical Thinking
How might your life change if one or more of the new battery technologies discussed above become a reality?