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>they're impractical ( you need massive space This isn't even close to true. A lithium-ion battery can store roughly 1 megajoule per liter, which I'm going to
by scythe 5y ago
>they're impractical ( you need massive space
This isn't even close to true. A lithium-ion battery can store roughly 1 megajoule per liter, which I'm going to use because it makes the math easier. (Other batteries are slightly less dense, but the correction factor is small). Total global energy consumption is around 1 exajoule per day. That's a trillion liters to store a day's worth of energy, or one billion cubic meters. Assuming you can stack batteries ten meters high -- which seems doable -- a battery farm to store a day's worth of energy for the whole world would take up about 100 million square meters, or 100 square kilometers, slightly smaller than San Francisco. That's less than the amount of space currently taken up by solar or wind farms.
Using zinc-bromine or other technologies will take up more space, but as you can see, a small reduction in energy density won't be that big of a deal.
- ncmncm 5y agoFurthermore: iron is not getting more expensive. Massive iron-air battery factories are under construction now.
- namibj 5y agoGot a link by chance to some such company, ideally with a sort of price tag attached?
- ncmncm 5y agohttps://formenergy.com/technology/battery-technology/ https://formenergy.com/technology/battery-technology/ Last figure I saw was 1/4 the cost of Li batteries. (I guess lithium cells have got cheaper since they made that page.)
- ohgodplsno 5y ago"Just build a 10m tall San Francisco sized battery farm lol smh" Congratulations on suggesting the most impractical, stupidly dangerous (mmmmh battery fires), impossible to make, single point of failure. At least it won't be attacked because it only lasts a single day anyways. Stick to philosophy and let actual engineers build a grid, thank you.
- ncmncm 5y agoWay to miss the point. San Francisco does not occupy much of the Earth's surface, or even of the continental US. This battery farm, spread out between all the towns in the US, would not even be noticed.
- ohgodplsno 5y agoYou're missing your own point. It lasts for a single day. A project using up pretty much all of Earth's currently usable lithium resources, for a single day of storage. It's worthless.
- ncmncm 5y agoThen it is a good thing not much of the storage built will use lithium. You are really reaching. It wears badly.
- yodelshady 5y agoHe's not missing it at all. I've seen the investment pitches. Nobody is seriously considering it for a reason, it's a terrible, terrible, idea. Covering intermittent sources is pretty much 100% public sector's responsibility, everywhere.
- ncmncm 5y agoYes, and it is done with resources in place, not in San Francisco. And, for resources in place, whether so impractical as lithium batteries, or as practical as pumped hydro, iron-air batteries, banked hydrogen, or transmission lines reaching operating generation elsewhere, the space required is in no way prohibitive. Which was the point.