Treehouse Protests & Water Concerns & Expansion of the Tesla Gigafactory - Berlin Grünheide

[Madeindex]

The tree-house protests at the Tesla Gigafactory Berlin Brandenburg are ongoing and will legally (ruled by a German court) continue at least until may.

The tree-house camp is inside the pine tree & spruce mono-culture plantation, which the protestors want to prevent from being cleared by Tesla.

There was significant police presence on the ground and the Tesla security was also standing around at the border (train tracks) between the construction zone and the protestor camp.

As i was close to the location, i decided to visit & talk to some of the protestors (mostly Fridays for Future & Antifa). On the ground I documented the situation and progress of the expansion and afterwards wrote an post about the situation of the gigafactory berlin expansion & the protests against it. It is questioning some of the concerns raised by the protestors regarding:

Water use & Pollution
The water protection area
Tree clearing
Wildlife

I hope it's interesting to you, if you have any you want to ask, feel free to comment or contact me,
Your Madeindex.org

Disclaimer: I don't own a Tesla or Tesla Stock

 

[bwilson4web]

This seems weird. Just curious:

• Electric cars - is "public transportation" their only alternative?
• Use of imported – critical minerals (lithium, cobalt etc.) for Teslas - are the other uses OK? What are the other uses?
• Individual transportation instead of public - does public transporation run 24x7 and go everywhere? Perhaps review the public transportation they used? In particular, how they got their tree-camp stuff there.
• Luxury/unaffordable cars - are any being bought?

Individuals can use the trains to get within walking distance of their tree camp. But did they use carts on the trains or busses to transport what they used for their tree houses?

Tesla went to a lot of bother to get public train tracks for employee and material transportation. Would the protesters prefer the employees use individual cars or just be unemployed?

I don't care for protestor hypocrites.

Bob Wilson

 

[Madeindex]

This seems weird. Just curious:

• Electric cars - is "public transportation" their only alternative?
• Use of imported – critical minerals (lithium, cobalt etc.) for Teslas - are the other uses OK? What are the other uses?
• Individual transportation instead of public - does public transporation run 24x7 and go everywhere? Perhaps review the public transportation they used? In particular, how they got their tree-camp stuff there.
• Luxury/unaffordable cars - are any being bought?

Individuals can use the trains to get within walking distance of their tree camp. But did they use carts on the trains or busses to transport what they used for their tree houses?

Tesla went to a lot of bother to get public train tracks for employee and material transportation. Would the protesters prefer the employees use individual cars or just be unemployed?

I don't care for protestor hypocrites.

Bob Wilson

Hello Bob,
I actually saw some very old vans there, i think for transport and some got there with them.

They also had a solar panel which kind of relates to your 2nd part, but Tesla does use minerals from congo & china which i do not agree with and i think this is also a part of their issue.

Not sure if they are hypocrites, while i saw them use a generator and propane gas etc., they have to "use" something.
Have been thinking a lot about the topic: "Is protesting fossil fuels & for the environment OK when using environmental unfriendly products / resources? I think everyone has a different philosophy on it.
I am personally more pro "individual transport", just as environmental friendly as possible
-Your Madeindex.org

 

[bwilson4web]

I actually saw some very old vans there, i think for transport and some got there with them. . . . i saw them use a generator and propane gas etc., they have to "use" something. Have been thinking a lot about the topic: "Is protesting fossil fuels & for the environment OK when using environmental unfriendly products / resources?

To a greater or lessor degree, we agree. The 'fixes' proposed do not scale to the whole of their population. There would be starvation, death, and a grim, grinding, poverty of life.

BTW, solar cells do not use 'critical minerals (lithium, cobalt etc.)' but the batteries used for night power do. So too do their cell phone batteries. Of course they could revert to lead-acid batteries.

Bob Wilson

 

[Madeindex]

Hello Bob,
I also think the change will not happen quickly, it is a philosophical debate weather an increase in industrialization, electrification and automation will solve all the problems or a complete stop of consumerism and localization. I try to apply a mix of both personally.

Absolutely, there are some special solar panels that do, but they are not widespread. Solar panels mostly come from China and use a variety of metals (selenium, copper, Indium, gallium, aluminum, cadmium telluride...) which (when mined in China) are probably damaging the environment significantly as well.
I don't know the batteries they use. Not that i think it is realistic for normal people to do something about this or that the problem lies with the consumer. I also have an amazing friend who is a Fridays for Future activist, that lives extremely minimalist and eats food from "Containering" (edible food thrown away by companies) / buys only used things /only uses public transportation / only rents a car when transporting things. Some activists commit very heavily to an environmentally friendly lifestyle and do what they can.

"Luxury/unaffordable cars - are any being bought?"
Forgot to mention, their problem with this: Tesla cars are all expensive/unaffordable for a normal person & the activists see luxury/high speeds etc. in cars as unnecessary i think.

-Your Madeindex.org

 

[bwilson4web]

A minor technical point:

some special solar panels that do, . . . and use a variety of metals (selenium, copper, Indium, gallium, aluminum, cadmium telluride...)

Over 99% of content is silicon, either crystalized or amorphous. The doping elements are much, much smaller but necessary for power generation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_solar_cells

Another source:

Most crystalline silicon solar cells have a p-type base (almost the entire thickness of the cell) and a heavily doped n-type emitter (the top couple microns). The n-type region has a doping concentration of a few orders of magnitude higher than the p-type base.

The p-type dopant (boron) is added during the crystallization process--you grow large crystals of p-type material and slice them into purely p-type wafers.

To introduce the n-type dopant (phosphorus), you usually stick the wafers in a diffusion furnace and flow a phosphorus-containing gas (usually POCl3) at high temperature. The phosphorus diffuses a couple microns into the wafer, forming a junction on both sides.

Of course, you only want a junction on the front side of the wafer. To remove the back junction, an aluminum coating is printed onto the back. After some thermal treatment, aluminum diffuses into the wafer and forms a p-type region on the back by counterdoping (aluminum is a p-type dopant).​

Bob Wilson

 

[Madeindex]

Over 99% of content is silicon, either crystalized or amorphous. The doping elements are much, much smaller

Bob Wilson

Definitely, the doping elements are a small part compared to the rest.
I was refering to Petrovskite solar cells - doped with rare earth materials. I hope they manage to boost the efficiency of the massively produced solar cells, at this point even 1% is dramatic in terms of economical advantage over other energy sources.