3 ms·
While I love the ingenuity of this system, I have some trouble seeing it used as an economically viable energy storage option. According to the article, they wo
by WJW 3y ago
While I love the ingenuity of this system, I have some trouble seeing it used as an economically viable energy storage option. According to the article, they would need about 45 m3 to store 10 kwh. At a concrete price of 200-300 $/m3, that would come to 9-13.5k USD just for the concrete. That's omitting any costs for the carbon black electrolyte, material processing, electrolyte separators and other things, so a very optimistic estimate.
Meanwhile, battery prices have fallen so much that you can buy 10 kwh of Li-Ion batteries for about $1500 ($150/kwh 2021 prices). The saving grace might be to have it do double duty as a structural element in the building, but many other posters have pointed out that there are many safety and construction problems that would have to be solved for that first.
- AstralStorm 3y agoIt might also turn out that lime for the concrete will become a rate limiting material. Not to mention the energy cost involved in mining both it and creating the carbon nanopowder. But, a material with similar hydration properties to concrete, a biopolymer for instance, might exist and be made with less cost... We actually have to start thinking about replacing concrete with something else to be more energy efficient and sustainable.
- obiknows 3y agohempcrete obviously...
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- leblancfg 3y agoRaw concrete price in USA is closer to 150$/m3, often less. One thing we don’t know is life expectancy vs Li-ion, whose 10-year charge is ~60%. I haven’t read the paper; one thing that’ll also be interesting is operating temperatures. This could be a massive upside to concrete supercaps in certain parts of the globe.