I’m calling it. 2021 was the year of the electric vehicle. I predict, 2022 is the year of circular design.
We recently saw batteries makers Northvolt produce its first lithium-ion battery cell featuring a nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) cathode produced with metals recovered through battery waste recycling. This is a big deal.
While this is a huge leap in battery innovation, we’re not entirely there yet. The company aims to produce cells with 50% recycled material by 2030 — that’s a long way off.
What interests me just as much is that other materials from battery recycling — recovered copper, aluminum, and plastics from the batteries and materials — will be recirculated back into manufacturing flows through local third-parties. All in all, this is circular design in action.
So what’s circular design?
Google “circular design”, and you’ll find lots of fluff about sustainability, using terms like “green-design”, “eco-design”, and “sustainable design”. Are you yawning already?
But it’s critical to a circular economy. Think about IoT. We’ve all seen the problems of e-waste — I’m not the only tech journalist with a graveyard of device obsolescence.
A company goes bust or is acquired. It stops supporting older devices or updating the device’s software. A security problem forces the device out of operation. A lack of right to repair chokes us. Or technology standards evolve faster than the IoT device.
What if this didn’t have to happen? What if materials are designed beyond their...
Read Full Story: https://thenextweb.com/news/why-circular-design-is-going-viral-in-mobility
Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.
