ENERGY-STORAGE IN LEAD-ACID-BATTERIES - THE FARADAY WAY TO SUSTAINABILITY

Food, warmth, standards of living, transport and future prospects-all depend on society's ability to continue supplying itself with the ener gy that it has grown to need. This energy is derived mainly from fossi l fuels and must be harnessed without harmful disturbance to the ecolo gical and geophysical systems of the biosphere. But-now amplified by a growing population-energy use has become a destructive force: locally , because emissions contaminate air, water and soil; globally, because emissions enhance the greenhouse effect. Moreover, society must look beyond these environmental concerns to the inevitable decline in the a vailability of fossil fuels and the need to find substitutes. This pap er examines how lead-acid batteries might assist the transition toward s a more sustainable balance between energy, the economy and the envir onment. Particular emphasis is placed on the advances in materials and cell designs that are required for battery performance to meet this c hallenge.