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>Cui estimated that, given the water-based battery’s expected lifespan, it would cost a penny to store enough electricity to power a 100-watt lightbulb for twel
by svantana 8y ago
>Cui estimated that, given the water-based battery’s expected lifespan, it would cost a penny to store enough electricity to power a 100-watt lightbulb for twelve hours.
Oh dear, I hate university news "journalism" with a passion. For the life of me I cannot understand why they feel the need to dumb down parts of the content while other parts remain decidedly technical. Is it to have something that laymen can quote? In this example, it's not clear how long the storage would be, but presumably overnight? It would make much more sense to compare the expected price to existing solutions, and/or the current price of electricity.
- timb07 8y ago"Excess electrons bubbled off as hydrogen gas, thus storing that energy for future use." Just wow.
- konschubert 8y ago"To mimic how a wind or solar source might feed power into the battery, the researchers attached a power source to the prototype."
- DennisP 8y agoWell that'd be 1.2 kWh, stored for a penny. Average electricity price in the U.S. is 10 cents/kWh. I've often criticized people for ignoring the cost of storage when talking about wind/solar prices, but at a penny per kWh it's pretty insignificant.
- slededit 8y agoJudging by the quote that's the amortized price. That first kWh is going to be much more expensive.
- DennisP 8y agoAmortized price is what everybody uses, for every type of power plant. You get financing, and charge an amount that gives you a reasonable profit over the expected life of the plant. You don't charge extra at the beginning. Storage facilities are no different.
- tajen 8y agoBut that’s for storage, not production.
- raverbashing 8y agoYes and at peak renewables production time, price is negative, as they don't have anywhere to offload it.
- DennisP 8y agoYes, but adding a penny per kWh to the price of electricity is no big deal. Prices in the continental U.S. range from about five to fifteen cents per kWh.