The Environment Report 2016

The Michigan Dutch community leaders are trying to keep an optimistic attitude on the future of the battery industry they are attracting.

However, last week was very difficult for advanced battery manufacturer LG Chem. According to an audit report from the US Department of Energy, the company said it may have invested more than $ 1 million. Lindsay Smith has more:

The federal government paid half of the $ 300 million price tag to the construction factory. But so far, it does not manufacture batteries. Instead, the audit found that the company volunteered to clean the factory to workers and volunteered to join non-profit organizations like Habitat for Humanity. Sometimes they watch movies or play cards

In a written statement, LG Chem agreed to the findings and paid the government to pay more than $ 800,000 to workers. The report said that LG Chem could not transfer production from South Korea to Michigan. However, the government does not seem to be able to force this to LG Chem.

So I met the Netherlands Mayor Kurt Dijkstra at the office of the city office. On the portrait of a large family, I saw pictures of his interior at LG Chemical Factory.

"Yes, we invited us to visit Seoul, president of LG Chem and president of LG in October 2010." Oh, is not this a factory? "No, this is Korea"

The Netherlands has put enormous efforts to attract factories here. It actually extends the scope of the city to adapt to the spread of plants at its boundaries. The city helped pay for factory roads, sewers, upgrades of public facilities.

"We are aware that there is a significant uplift in the process, and this is certainly one of them."

However, Dykstra and other Dutch people did not give up the industry. It is just a mile away from the road; Johnson controls batteries. In the Netherlands, there are about 400 jobs between the factory and other suppliers. Previously it was zero

Like LG Chem, he said there are many advanced battery factories in Japan, South Korea and China, and their operational capacity is sufficient.

In most cases he said that these factories are receiving government subsidies and expect the demand for electric cars to rise sharply. It has not happened yet. And the biggest problem is cost

"When consumers buy a Chevrolet cruise for $ 25,000 it is difficult to buy a Chevrolet Volt for $ 40,000."

Jaffe is Chevrolet Volt's battery and estimates that the price of GM will exceed $ 12,000. LG Chemical Factory in the Netherlands should supply batteries with bolts

Jaffe said the problem is somewhat similar to question 22. Since the car is not very affordable, the battery can not be made cheap, as the demand is not high and the demand is not high

Jaffe has reached a turning point ... the cost has been reduced sufficiently to meet the sudden increase in demand for these batteries for cars and other uses.

He said the two anchor battery makers in the Netherlands, LG Chem and Johnson Controls, are very healthy companies with many parliament buildings.

Even five years later Jaffe imagines that the Netherlands will be in a state suitable for utilizing the rise when the market actually recovers.

Poland relies mainly on coal generation for electricity and has achieved the worst results in the European Environment Agency's 2016 European Air Quality Report. According to the report of the European Commission, it is "normally large" which violated the air quality standard of harmful particulate matter in 42 regions of the European Union in 2014. "Without serious air pollution problems, it is surprising that there is no market solid fuel standards or polish's new boiler emission standards," the report said. . The percentage of shipments to landfill sites (49%) has significantly exceeded the EU average of 28%. It also does not work well in that only 30% of municipal waste is recycled. However, the quality of its drinking water is very good, the compliance rate is 99% to 100%

In the 2006 Annual Environmental Report, the Ministry of the Environment's current main problems are global warming and protection of the ozone layer, protection of the atmospheric environment, water and soil, management and recycling of waste, chemical measures, natural environment And to participate in international cooperation. . Contracting Parties: Antarctic - Environment Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Changes, Hazardous Waste (Basel Convention), Maritime Act, Marine Dumping, Protection of the Ozone Layer (Montreal Protocol) Ship contamination (MARPOL 73/78), Tropical Wood 83, Tropical Wood 94, wetland (Ramsar Convention), Whaling