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How Long Will It Take for Batteries to End the Oil Age?
- ggm 9y agoIt took oil a long time to end the steam age. The contexts where steam from oil worked as well as steam from coal lasted a long time because steam as a reservoir of energy is pretty useful. It took turbines a long time to end the piston engine age. As in: they haven't. Not all ages end or necessarily end cleanly in one moment. Batteries might replace some oil contexts soon eg in mining. Or in shipping. Or in some specific electrical generator contexts like fill in supply. If Brasil has a viable Ethanol economy, why would batteries be better? If we built an ammonia power economy, why would batteries be better? It's about a lot of things like energy density, access to inputs, portability, complexity. What if algal fuel works out? What if buterate feedstock works out? Maybe the oil economy won't end, as much as morph?
- angersock 9y agoThe power density for hydrocarbons is far better than for batteries, and actually using the power is at worst comparably tricky.