EVENT REVIEW: ELBC Report of the Intergovernmental Panel anel ead on Climate Change, put the role of lead and lead batteries firmly in the contextt of the need to reduce the world’s reliance on misfossil fuels to help control carbon emissions. bilHe homed in on lead’s recyclability (much less energy to recycle than to ad smelt from ores) and the need for lead ze batteries for energy storage (to capitalize on renewable energy sources). mIn other sessions, the dramatic imng provements in lead batteries resulting gfrom the addition of carbon to the negal ative active mass were seen as a critical focus for future research. y The task now is to understand why the carbon is so beneficial, and to iden-tify the most effective parameters off that carbon (size, shape, optimum per-y centage of addition, etc) and especially the type of carbon (carbon black,, graphite, graphene, nanotubes, etc). A limiting factor in the wider use of lead batteries is the speed at which they can be recharged and dynamic charge acceptance which will be another major focus for future research.

ELBC, a persona l view

The14ELBC confere nce in Edinburgh, what an week! I, and many others, thought that it was one of the best ‘networking events’ — aka business opportunities — of th e year! From the moment we arrived we hardly had time to stand still. Starting with the first evening ’s networking opportunity, supplied by the Hammond Group, touring an d partaking in the Scottish Whiskey Ta sting Experience. A fantastic venue and gracious host. Ending with the Ga la evening at the National Museum of Scotland — as always a spectacula r event, we would have expected noth ing less from the IL A and its highly cre There have been tim ative team. es when I have been amazed at how othe seems to deploy spec r event organisers ial skills in keeping the delegates away — those poor hara from the exhibitors ssed people who ha ve spent thousands, thousands, getting th sometimes tens of eir booth to the exhib ition and then stand hoping for a glimpse around for days of a ever more rare delegate. Not so at ELBC. Every coffee and co mfort break was sp ent in the exhibition looked like they migh . If the delegates t turn the wrong wa y out of the conferenc helpful people there e hall there were to point them in the right direction. Each tion was held in the networking recepexhibition hall. What then could be improved on? Well , nothing as far as concerned. I will lea the exhibitors are ve other, more opini on ated, people to comm ity of the speakers ent on the qualand presentations — for ourselves we he praise — but for us ard nothing but exhibitors, the ILA came out on top. Or in the words of Abraham Lincoln: “H e has a right to critic to help”. ise, has a heart Karen Hampton, Publisher, Batteries International

show moves to Valletta ganizer thinking is more complex. Golf courses are out. This year’s tournament at St Andrew’s by the way is an exception, based on You’ll Never Guess It Right Rule (suckers), see later for fuller details. The One-Flight Rule. There should be direct flights from across Europe, the US and Asia to the city. Edinburgh slightly broke the rules here, most US and Asian visitors had to fly in through Glasgow. The reasoning is not that after Glasgow, Edinburgh will seem a dream but further evidence of the You’ll Never Guess It Right Rule (suckers). The-Never-The-Same-DestinationTwice Rule. For the first 13 ELBC meetings, this was the golden rule for confer-

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ence watchers making their predictions. Unfortunately ELBC organizers wised up to this, see You’ll Never Guess It Right Rule (suckers) and wrong-footed everybody two years ago. The sneaky return to Paris — and to the same venue as the first 1988 meetings — was reckoned by ILA insiders as a master-stroke of deception. You’ll-Never-Guess-It-Right Rule (suckers). In recent years delegates’ clever money on where the event will be held has been more accurate than before. The result has been this rule which goes: “All rules are made to be broken (including this one)”. This last clause apparently makes perfect sense to the highest echelons of the ELBC.

Roll of honour — named and shamed! 1988

Paris

1990

Brussels

1992

Geneva

1994

Munich

1996

Sitges/Barcelona

1998

Prague

2000

Dublin

2002

Rome

2004

Berlin

2006

Athens

2008

Warsaw

2010

Istanbul

2012

Paris

2014

Edinburgh

2016

Valletta*

(not Southend on Sea as some foolish soul predicted)

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 99