The advent of battery-based societies and the global environment in the 21st century

In paving the way for a new electricity-based civilization in the 21st cent ury, we hope to find the key to solving the trilemma of securing energy and resources, maintaining economic growth, and preserving the environment. In these circumstances, secondary batteries are expected to be used on a larg e scale in a new field-for energy purposes and to positively affect preserv ation of the global environment, resulting in the advent of a new battery-b ased society in the 21st century. It is important to develop secondary batt eries not only with high specific energy for convenience, but also with lar ge capacity, high energy efficiency and long life cycle for effective use o f primary energy resources including natural energy. Lithium secondary batt eries are a promising option. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights res erved.