There’s no shortage of potential solutions to the world’s critical need for renewable energy storage. But there is a shortage of accessible and cheap resources to use for those solutions. With the limitations of materials like lithium and vanadium in mind, it’s logical to look for alternatives
Adding solar panels to your home is a bright idea, but according to one report from 2020 only about 6% of installed residential solar systems included battery storage.1 2 That’s a bit of a power outage in the world of renewable energy. But with a home battery, you&
Who doesn’t want a smartphone, laptop, or EV that can charge in minutes? Or a device that holds its charge just as well when it’s 5 years old as the day you plugged it in for the first time? Faster-charging, longer-lasting, and cheaper energy storage options are something
Grid-scale lithium-ion batteries are our current go-to chemical energy storage solution, but they present their own challenges in safety, sustainability, cost, and longevity. However, the competition is … heating up. New forms of thermal energy storage systems built using abundant, cheap materials are on the rise. One company is aiming to
With the ever-growing demand for electrifying everything, we need more sustainable batteries. Li-ion devices are cost-effective but rely on lithium, graphite, and other materials, whose sourcing has significant environmental and social impacts. One potential solution is being developed where wood is used to replace these materials with a bio-based alternative.
As good as lithium-ion batteries are, they have their limitations and challenges, but there’s also plenty of battery alternatives. Flow batteries alone have enough variations in chemistry to make your head spin. Zinc-bromine batteries are one up-and-coming contender … and calling them up and coming sounds funny when you consider
As the renewable energy sector continues to grow, so does our need for better and cheaper energy storage, which is why our reliance on lithium could become a bit of a problem. While there are already an assortment of energy storage options available today beyond lithium batteries for grid scale
Recently I’ve talked about my new net zero home I’m building, but not all net zero buildings have to be homes or houses. The same net zero, passive house concepts can be scaled up to large buildings, offices, and apartment buildings. In fact, I had a chance to
With electric vehicle demand skyrocketing and the growing need for energy storage for renewables, lithium-ion batteries are one of the key technologies for our sustainable future. However, “how sustainable?” is the million dollar question. Between the supply chain issues of the past couple of years and inflation, the cost of
When it comes to grid-scale energy storage, redox flow batteries (RFB) are one of the big competitors for lithium-ion batteries. In preliminary tests, RFBs can be manufactured with longer lasting lives, be made more scalable, and are easier to recycle than other battery technologies. Yet, after investing millions of US
As you know, efficient energy storage systems are the conundrum of making the most out of our intermittent renewable energy generation. Unless you’ve had your head in the sand, it’s a glaring problem we have to solve, which is why so many different battery technologies are being explored
When it comes to heating and cooling our homes or producing hot water, heat pumps are proving themselves to be one of the most energy efficient ways to go. However, there’s a category of material that could be used to efficiently produce hot water, or to reduce your heating