For decades, lithium has been the most coveted element in energy storage. It has been called “white gold,” a label that has brought major problems, including soaring prices, fragile supply chains and a geopolitical dependence that worries both governments and industry. Enter sodium: abundant, cheap and a major promise for a more sustainable energy revolution.

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The recyclability factor

When we talk about more sustainable batteries it’s important to ask how their recycling works. “[Sodium batteries] are much easier to recycle, but also much less interesting from an economic perspective,” says Jon Ajuria of CIC energiGUNE. They typically contain fewer high-value metals, so technologically there is less need to recover materials for second use. Paradoxically, that also means recovering less money from recycling. “This makes it especially important to design batteries from the outset to be easy to disassemble and recycle,” says Professor José Luis Tirado, although Ajuria says policies that truly promote recycling will be essential.

The death of a person in France infected with the Shamonda virus (SHAV) has put European public health authorities on alert. “The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is carefully monitoring the situation after the French authorities announced the first ever reported human infection with Shamonda virus (SHAV), a disease that has until now only affected animals,” the agency said in a statement.

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