6.1.4 Energy storage

Solar energy is fine when the sun shines. Wind energy is fine when the wind blows. But when there is no sunshine and no wind?

The answer is a much more efficient energy storage. One of the big challenges is to store surplus electricity from solar and wind sources.

The most common approaches are to pump water uphill for hydroelectricity storage, produce hydrogen, store heat, compress air and making different forms of batteries.  The Tesla house batteries seem to be increasingly efficient – and economic.

Small entities producing, and storing hydrogen from solar and wind electricity are promising. Hydrogen is easy to transport, it can be used much like petrol – but with no pollution.

 

Read more

• Harvard Researchers Hail Cost-Effective Battery That Could Store Surplus Wind and Solar Power
• Energy Storage Would Play Major Role in a Green Future
• The battery miracle will transform both transportation and power generation (June 2016)
• Elon Musk: Tesla Battery Will ‘Fundamentally Change the Way the World Uses Energy’(May 2015)
• Elon Musk’s Tesla Battery So Popular It Sold Out Through 2016
• Tesla Powerwall Explained! – A Battery Powered Home.
• Mercedes Debuts World’s First Fully Electric Big Rig
• Top 5 green energy breakthroughs
• The Future of the Battery Powered Homes
• How Better Battery Storage Will Expedite Renewable Energy
• Why 2016 is the Year of the Battery, and How You Can Profit From It
• Cambridge chemists make super-battery breakthrough
• Graphene unlocks super batteries for a greener future
• ‘Super batteries’ to be 3D printed from graphene ink
• Superbatteries
• Tesla Unveils World’s Largest Battery Storage Plant to Reduce Reliance on Fossil Fuels (Jan 2017)

 

 Next

Home	Chapter  5	5 Green economy
	Chapter 6	6 Greener future?
		6.1 Green technology
		6.1.1 Solar
		6.1.2 Wind
		6.1.3 Renewable energy
		6.1.4 Energy storage
		6.1.5 Geo-engineering
		6.2 Ecological footprint
		6.3 Greener law?
		6.4 Greener business?
		6.5 Greener architecture?
		6.6 Greener tourism