Energy storage: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 15:57, 26 February 2024

In the pursuit of green energy, storage is needed for 2 reasons:

To smooth out the intermittency of solar and wind power.
To store energy in electric vehicles.

Note: This page does not include thermal energy storage.

Types / Candidates

Type	Status
Sodium-ion batteries	Good potential / needs investment.
Sodium-sulfur batteries	Good potential / needs investment.
Hydrogen gas	Okay for some applications, but too lossy & platinum-intensive for others.
Lithium ferro phosphate batteries	Okay if used in moderation. A bit too lithium-intensive to be a general solution.
Lithium-ion batteries (NMC/NCA type)	Not scalable enough: Too cobalt-intensive.
Lithium-sulfur batteries	Can't handle enough charge cycles.
Lead-acid batteries	Toxic / hazardous.
Stationary storage only (power grid, not vehicles)
Iron redox flow batteries	Good potential / needs investment.
Compressed air	?
Pumped hydro	Only viable in rare geographical locations.
Flywheels	?
Gravity blocks	Not viable: Outrageously high environmental footprint of construction.

For more details, read the wikipage of each energy storage type. Links are in the table.

So far, sodium-based batteries seem to have the most hope of being a widespread solution - along with iron-based batteries for stationary energy storage.

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 <small>Note: This page does not include [[thermal energy storage]].</small>
-==Types==
+==Types / Candidates==
 {|class="wikitable"
 !Type
@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 |-
 |[[Hydrogen gas]]
-|Okay for some applications, but too lossy and platinum-intensive for others.
+|Okay for some applications, but too lossy & platinum-intensive for others.
 |-
-|[[LFP batteries|Lithium ferrous (iron) phosphate]]<!--(LiFePo4 or LFP)-->
+|[[Lithium ferro phosphate batteries]]<!--(LiFePo4 or LFP)-->
 |Okay if used in moderation. A bit too lithium-intensive to be a general solution.
 |-
-|[[Lithium-ion batteries]]
+|[[Lithium-ion batteries]] <small>(NMC/NCA type)</small>
 |Not scalable enough: Too [[cobalt]]-intensive.
 |-
@@ Line 54: / Line 54: @@
 <small>For more details, read the wikipage of each energy storage type. Links are in the table.</small>
-So far, sodium-based batteries seem to have the most hope of being a widespread solution - along with iron-based batteries for stationary energy storage.
+So far, sodium-based batteries seem to have the [[the great battery challenge|most hope]] of being a widespread solution - along with iron-based batteries for stationary energy storage.
+<!--
 ==How much energy storage might be needed?==
 Some quick estimates:
@@ Line 107: / Line 108: @@
 There are more options for this type of energy storage, because it's stationary (not moving in a vehicle).
+These numbers might be reused on other wikipages to assess the large-scale viability of various types of energy storage. Don't worry if you're not familiar with <code>terajoules</code> as an [[energy/units|energy unit]].
-<!-- TODO: add better estimates.
-     NOTE: when these numbers change, also update the calculations on the pages for each energy storage type.
+TODO:
-     TALK: if a lot of calculations have to be reused in a lot of pages, consider creating a template
+* Improve the above commented-out calculations.
+* Put them in templates {{Grid energy storage}} and {{Vehicle energy storage}}
+* Use the templates on the wikipage of each energy storage type.
 -->
+[[Category:Energy storage]]
-These numbers might be reused on other wikipages to assess the large-scale viability of various types of energy storage. Don't worry if you're not familiar with <code>terajoules</code> as an [[energy/units|energy unit]].