Renewables and battery storage have become mainstream topics in the last few years, and everyone knows about lithium ion batteries. Correction: everyone owns at least one, in their smartphones. But those batteries do have a number of downsides, including the fact that they can start fires .
On a more global scale, the concern is cost, so finding cheaper, safer forms of large scale storage is critical if we want to transition away from fossil fuels before we all turn into shish kebabs. Given the corporate obsession with profit at any cost, ‘cheap’ and ‘change’ seem to be joined at the hip, so I hope these new-old technologies become mainstream soon.
The video below describes one of the oldest and cheapest contenders for large scale battery storage:
cheers,
Meeks
Meeka's Mind 
February 1st, 2023 at 4:33 am
“… before we all turn into shish kabobs.” Lol. The science is fascinating, Andrea. Storage is still a problem with a lot of non-fossil fuel energy generation, especially on a small scale (one car/one house). But so much progress is being made. I think we just might get there in the nick of time.
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February 1st, 2023 at 7:41 am
I have to agree, Diana. It feels as if there’s a new innovation every second day. I guess everyone’s realised that there’s money to be made from going carbon neutral. Fingers crossed it’s not too late.
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February 1st, 2023 at 9:01 am
Even the fossil fuel industry is figuring out that there’s profit in it. It’s sort of like big agro corporations getting into the organic food market. 🙂 Consumers have to keep speaking with our wallets. It’s the only way they listen.
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February 1st, 2023 at 10:33 am
Yeah, unfortunately, the big agro companies are generally only paying lip service to organics. Organic shampoo? Sure, there’s maybe 0.00000001% of something organic in there, along with the same, toxic stuff they’ve always used. 😦
I just hope that the swing to renewables is more honest.
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February 1st, 2023 at 11:41 am
Here, if something is labeled certified organic it’s pretty reliable. But I agree that big agro is only dabbling. A full on commitment to healthy food is a long way off.
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February 1st, 2023 at 8:39 pm
Are free range eggs a big issue over there? Public opinion turned against factory hens after seeing some really gruesome footage of how they ‘live’, if that can be called living. Now free range is mainstream. Then again, there’s nominal free range and real free range. Gah…
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February 2nd, 2023 at 1:42 am
Yes. It’s big over here. The eggs are almost twice a much, but for me, it’s worth it to know that the animals are enjoying sunshine, exercise, and yummy bugs.
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February 2nd, 2023 at 8:04 am
Same! The person[s] who came up with the idea of keeping hens in such appalling conditions must have been a sociopath.
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February 2nd, 2023 at 11:30 pm
And other food animals too. It’s pretty horrible.
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February 3rd, 2023 at 7:31 am
Yes. 😦 All in the name of commerce.
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January 30th, 2023 at 6:15 pm
[…] is like me she needs to know-smile- This is about battery Storage…On a global scale, the concern is cost, so finding cheaper, safer forms of large-scale storage […]
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January 30th, 2023 at 12:49 am
The downside also for electric vehicles—the mining that has to be done for the materials and then the disposal etc.
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January 30th, 2023 at 6:42 am
Yes, lithium is not the answer.
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January 27th, 2023 at 5:07 pm
This an interesting article for anyone looking for storage 🙂 x
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January 28th, 2023 at 8:32 am
Hi Carol. I think we’re going to be bombarded with new tech in the coming years. To me it feels as if all the ingredients needed for a great leap forward in technology are finally coming together. Such a pity it has to be in response to an existential threat.
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January 28th, 2023 at 12:08 pm
Absolutely but whatever the reason its happening… 😎
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January 28th, 2023 at 10:02 pm
lol – yes, it is.
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January 27th, 2023 at 8:14 am
Thanks Meeks. We looked into battery storage for our solar panels rather than sending the excess power generation back to the grid for a paltry 5 cents per kw… the options were limited, expensive and complicated… had to be undercover which I understand but also external in case they catch fire which I understand also… but, in a location that hooks up to our WiFi located centrally inside the house and which runs off electricity… and required fitting of a lot more solar panels and removal of a very large and in our view necessary shade and bird habitat tree. The world definitely needs a simpler cheaper solution.
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January 27th, 2023 at 11:12 am
Ugh…commiserations. Those were some of the considerations that kept us from getting a battery as well. Now we just try to use up our solar when we have it. 10am to about 3pm is when we try to run washing machines, dishwasher etc. I wish we could disconnect the solar gain from the grid entirely, but then we’d have to give grid electricity as well.
Personally I’m waiting for neighbourhood distributed power to go mainstream. I fear I may be in my 90’s before that happens though. 😦
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