As we hurtle towards a low-carbon future, energy storage is hailed as the unsung hero that will power our transition to a sustainable world. Batteries, in particular, are touted as the solution to our energy woes, with companies like Tesla and BYD leading the charge. But what if I told you that batteries are not the answer? In fact, the very idea of energy storage might be holding us back from making the progress we need to mitigate climate change.
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The conventional wisdom is that energy storage will bridge the gap between renewable energy sources like solar and wind, and our demand for electricity. But the truth is, our energy system is far more complex than a simple supply-and-demand equation. The problem is not that we don’t have enough energy storage – it’s that we’re focusing on the wrong type of storage.
Batteries are great for smoothing out the variability of solar and wind power, but they’re not the most efficient way to store energy over long periods. In fact, the energy lost in converting and re-converting energy to and from chemical form (i.e., charging and discharging batteries) is staggering. According to a study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the round-trip efficiency of lithium-ion batteries is around 70-80%, meaning that up to 20% of the energy stored is lost in the process.
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Meanwhile, other forms of energy storage like pumped hydro storage, compressed air energy storage, and even hydrogen fuel cells are far more efficient and cost-effective. And yet, these alternatives are often overlooked in favor of the sexy, high-tech world of batteries.
So what’s holding us back? Part of the problem is that our energy system is still designed around fossil fuels, which have been optimized for efficiency and cost over centuries of refinement. But the real obstacle is our addiction to the idea of energy storage as a silver bullet. We’re so focused on finding the perfect storage solution that we’re neglecting the more fundamental issue of how we design our energy system to work with the sun and wind.
The solution lies in a more holistic approach to energy system design, one that takes into account the unique characteristics of renewable energy sources and the needs of our grid. This might involve a greater emphasis on demand response – managing energy demand in real-time to match the variability of solar and wind power – and a more decentralized approach to energy production, with storage solutions that are tailored to specific applications and locations.
In short, energy storage is not the key to our energy future – it’s the key to unlocking a more sustainable, more efficient, and more resilient energy system. And it’s time to rethink our assumptions about what that means.
