Tag: Sarah Emerson

Bookmarked Unraveling the Secret Origins of an AmazonBasics Battery (Medium)

The battery becomes less trackable the further it progresses down the chain. This is overwhelmingly due to U.S. shipping rules that allow companies to move product virtually in secret. And as Amazon expands into all modes of transport — cars, trucks, air and ocean freight — its logistics will likely become even more invisible.

Sarah Emerson reflects on her experience with the AmazonBasics Battery. In the process she follows the thread back to a Fujitsu factory in Indonesia. Although there are is not concrete data in regards to the environmental impact, she makes an effort to put the pieces of the puzzle back together. For example, she discusses a paper co-authored by Jay Turner and Leah Nugent, in which they argued that:

It takes more than 100 times the energy to manufacture an alkaline battery than is available during its use phase.” And when the entirety of a battery’s emissions are added up — including sourcing, production, and shipping — its greenhouse gas emissions are 30 times that of the average coal-fired power plant, per watt-hour.

Other than the problem that companies are not required to log such informed, Emerson also highlights that the impact is often only focued on the disposal of the item.