Letter to the Editor: Green technology not always ‘clean’

The rush to electric cars has all the hallmarks of the herd mentality let loose, all over again, just like the dotcom bubble, Y2K, and property crash. Battery-based, it provides a convenient solution to fossil fuels in the developed world and particularly, Europe, which is keen to show the way by embracing “green” technology.

It may be green but it is dirty, even at current low levels of deployment, and is already the cause of serious environmental damage in third world countries where the ores and minerals for battery production are sourced. As electric is scaled up, the destruction will become substantial, both in terms of toxins polluting soil and groundwater associated with mining, and carbon intensity in respect of the smelting and manufacturing processes of battery production.