Exploring everything within energy storage like lithium ion battery technology, pumped hydro, hydrogen and more.
This is the Dinglun Flywheel Energy Storage Power Station. At 30 MW, this is likely the biggest Flywheel Energy Storage System on the planet. Don’t let that spin you around though. While its sheer size is unrivaled, It’s not alone. More and more people are turning to mechanical
The US military just approved funding for a new silicon-based battery, charging forward into commercialization. But why the push? NanoGraf’s silicon oxide-graphene (SOG) batteries aren’t just an upgrade to lithium—they’re versatile enough for everything from phones and backup storage to EVs. The DOD recently signed a
We can’t control the weather (yet). But we can control how we store weather-dependent renewable energy. So how do we snatch up our lightning in a bottle? Lithium-ion batteries can only go so far…and our historical large-scale go-to, pumped storage hydropower, only works in certain locations. What if
Nothing lasts forever, and batteries are no exception. So as popular as lithium-ion tech may be for energy storage, it’s not without its weaknesses. Chief amongst them is degradation. You can’t expect lithium-ion to operate at peak performance for very long. But what if we could somehow create
Developing reliable energy storage is just as, if not more, important as improving methods of obtaining the energy itself. But among the slew of new batteries and energy storage systems, how can you tell which tech is worthy and which is just hype? Well, let's break down what
If I said that solid state batteries (or SSBs) were coming to the market soon, would you believe me? What if I told you that some of the most advanced SSBs ever made are right around the corner? And that the pilot programs and production facilities are already in the
Sand. It’s coarse, it's rough, and it can make for a great battery. And as weird as that might sound, it’s just one example of the many earthy materials currently used for thermal energy storage (or TES). A while back, we covered the debut of the
It might surprise you to learn that the basic chemistry of the lithium ion battery at the heart of a brand new Tesla or iPhone hasn’t changed all that much in the last 30 years.1 So, when several of you left comments pointing me in the direction of
There is no perfect battery. Every one of them has pros and cons. One might be perfect for electric vehicles, but horrible for another use case because of cost, longevity, or power output. But what if you combined two separate technologies into one package? Better yet, what if you could
What do you do if a satellite runs out of batteries? It’s prohibitively expensive to send a team into orbit and pop in some new AAs, and as a result many satellites use very efficient, reliable and long-lived nickel-hydrogen batteries. We’re talking about batteries that may last decades.
It’s been nice to see the growing popularity of electric vehicles these last few years, but EVs need batteries and batteries don’t last forever. In fact, the first generation of EV batteries are already dying, and there's an absolute dead battery typhoon coming. Lithium battery recycling
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
