Solar power is great when … the sun shines.
In order to make each household really energy independent, theres need to be the ability to store electric power also when they don't need it just this minute.
In somes countries in Europe, so far the answer to that question has come from the electricity contracts consumers have with the grid: you feed in the excess electricity into the grid and effectively sell it to the power utility (often at a higher price than what you pay for your kilowatts). A disguised form of subsidy that is unlikely to last over the long term.
Hot on the heels of the recent post about The advance of the electric car, I came across the announcement of two new battery technologies that promise to increase storage capacity by multiples.
First the acid-sulphur battery: Ceramatec proposes a new battery that uses a thin ceramic membrane that is sandwiched between the sulfur layer and the sodium layer, enabling the battery to run at less than 200 F. Only positive sodium ions can pass through, leaving electrons to create a useful electricity.The company says that the new batteries will be available for market testing 2011, at about $2000. This battery has a lifecycle of about ten years (about 3650 charge cylces - one per day) and can power a modest household for the day. (For less modesty, buy two).
Now the air battery: The EPSRC, a UK science agency announced a new battery technology that uses air as one of its components and could store up to 10 times more energy than current technologies. From their press release:
"The new design has the potential to improve the performance of portable electronic products and give a major boost to the renewable energy industry. The batteries will enable a constant electrical output from sources such as wind or solar, which stop generating when the weather changes or night falls.
Improved capacity is thanks to the addition of a component that uses oxygen drawn from the air during discharge, replacing one chemical constituent used in rechargeable batteries today. Not having to carry the chemicals around in the battery offers more energy for the same size battery. Reducing the size and weight of batteries with the necessary charge capacity has been a long-running battle for developers of electric cars."
And the best bit: the convergence part.
Combining solar power with local energy storage really changes the energy paradigm from central distribution to local production and consumption. Fits right into the times.
No electricity waste during the transport, less dependence on an electricity grid that has the technological status of the early twenties of the last century in most countries, and, really a more sensible approach to energy consumption all around.
And, in time, may be some of those ugly overhead power lines might disappear as well.
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