Heather Allain, Executive Director, Materials Technology Institute (MTI), tells us about her passion for materials and the importance of MTI’s work to provide awareness of safe, reliable and sustainable materials use.
Eight tips on what to consider when assessing nickel carbon footprint data.
The new EU Battery regulation has implications for nickel producers both inside and outside Europe. If they are supplying material to the EU battery chain destined for the European market all producers need to comply with the new rules.
Mark Mistry and Marco Vallini argue that for the EU Critical Raw Materials Act to fulfil its promise to address the energy transition, industry needs planning security for both ‘critical’ and ‘strategic’ raw materials.
Because the first step in reducing emissions is to measure them, the Nickel Institute has produced guidance to help nickel metal producers calculate their GHG emissions.
Solar farms are blooming in fields across the globe and producing a new crop: solar energy. Photovoltaic (PV) systems made up of solar panels, are fast becoming the most recognisable of renewable energy technologies.
What is a “sustainable product”? Is it more sustainable to continue using my old washing machine or to buy a new, more energy efficient one? Are single use products always unsustainable? What criteria should I use to judge whether a product is sustainable or not? What measures can we take to promote sustainability in products?
The Nickel Institute has published specific guidance for nickel producers to help them calculate their greenhouse gas emissions. This guidance takes into account the complexity of nickel production and will contribute to scientifically robust and reliable data that is comparable throughout the entire industry. The author of the Guidelines, Dr. Mark Mistry explains.
Batteries, notably those used in electric vehicles, play an essential role in the plans of the European Commission to deliver the EU Green Deal. They are considered as a critical and strategic technology to achieve Europe´s ambitious climate change mitigation targets and to move towards green and sustainable mobility.
The proposed Regulation will introduce a wide range of sustainability requirements and promote the recycling of key battery raw materials like nickel. EU legislative work is entering a crucial phase.
Think of the largest cruise ship. Then imagine how much it weighs – just over 100,000 tonnes, in fact. Now think about 500 of those ships, and what they weigh. That is the staggering amount of new electronic waste that we generate every year.
More than ten years on from the implementation of the EU’s REACH regulation, NiPERA’s Tara Lyons-Darden looks back and shares some of the learnings and the challenges of maintaining REACH dossiers from the perspective of the Nickel REACH Consortia.
Even small quantities of nickel in an application can make a big difference to successful deployment.
“There’s a mental hurdle to get over of how inherently gross this could be, but we know that this water is safe, and we stand by our process.”
The many new and innovative applications of hydrogen as fuel show great promise for a greener future.
As electric vehicles (EVs) trend from being niche to mass scale and the lines between EVs and their combustion engine (ICE) counterparts get blurred in terms of usability, consumers, automakers, governments and fire departments continue to have some apprehensions.
New advances in the use of Artificial Intelligence have the potential to speed up the process of alloy development.
The short answer is: yes, nickel can be a sustainable material throughout the entire value chain, from mining, manufacturing, to use and end of life – if all actors throughout the value chain step up and take their responsibility. Now let's look at the longer answer...
The last three months have been unprecedented. But amidst the chaos and despite the drop in global GDP, there has still been a considerable amount of activity in the electric vehicle (EV) and battery world.
European nickel producers need a consistent regulatory framework. There must be coherence between different EU policy objectives with rules based on principles of sound science, risk-based approaches, full life-cycle thinking and impact assessments.
The electric vehicle market is expected to be by far the largest and most dominant market for lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. Despite the strong desire to increase EV sales by all involved in the value chain, proliferation has been curbed due to the high cost to the consumer and the perceived disadvantages of owning an EV. Range anxiety, a lack of charging stations and fire safety worries, are among the top concerns.
Should we be worried about there being enough nickel to supply the transition to electric vehicles and cleaner energy sources? Given its wide range of uses in important existing and emerging technologies, this is a frequently asked question.