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I was sceptical of this at first. I suspected that the "how much energy can be stored" was only in regards to a single use, but I checked out the source, and th
by leafmeal 6y ago
I was sceptical of this at first. I suspected that the "how much energy can be stored" was only in regards to a single use, but I checked out the source, and this is over the lifetime of the storage medium.
It blows my mind that it takes 1/10 of the energy it will ever store to manufacture a lithium ion battery.
- Retric 6y agoConstruction energy is less than half the story here. The inefficiency of energy storage and retrieval dominates the energy costs of using a battery. You lose 10:1 on construction, and at least another 10:1 on electric-to-electric efficiency for a net of 5:1. However, with an electric-to-electric efficiency of only 40-52% compressed air has a net efficiency of ~ 0.5:1 even if construction costs suggest 200:1 that just means it stays 0.5:1.
- sk5t 6y agoIs it more or less mind-blowing to look around and note that virtually everything in our houses and offices--electronics, pots and pans, tables and chairs, autos, etc.--came out of the ground? Think about all the ore-bearing rock and soil that had to be mined, sifted, transported, refined, formed, milled, transported again, and so on, just to produce the machine that puts a label on a box. Even putting truly complex tech aside, the amount of resources we collectively tear through, day after day, to get to this (not particularly admirable) place is staggering.