What are some of the most creative energy storage solutions?
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I've seen flywheels, molten salt and compressed air used to store energy from renewable sources. Are there any other unconventional storage solutions?
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Answer:
Seasonal Heat Storage. It's so simple, really, it's clean and there is a huge potential. Is it creative? You might say so, as it hasn't been used too much yet - and required a bit of thinking outside the box - literally. The box being a house, the energy is stored outside the box (under the house) This is not about heat pumps, it's pure transfer of heat from solar panels, and into the ground (ideally, below a building, at the optimum depth) The excess heat of the summer is returned in winter. Use hybrid thermal-electric solar panels, and the seasonal heat storage even doubles as cooling for the PVs, resulting in higher electrical yields as well as less degradation of the PVs. The Earth (or rock, gravel, clay, whatever), is already there. As long as you don't live in a swamp, that complicates the process a bit. Apartments and high-rises need a different approach to seasonal storage, due to a much higher living-space to ground surface ratio. Once installed, there is hardly any maintenance. Part of the system is passive, so even during a power failure during a heavy snow storm, you are still keeping hot inside your house. It's like having a huge energy battery - right underneath the building.
KÃ¥re Lohse at Quora Visit the source
Other answers
One our grad students just wrote a paper on vanadium reflow batteries for grid demand management and islanding.
Jeffrey Phillips
There are a dizzying array of unconventional energy storage solutions out there today. It would be advisable to try and ask a little more specific question. Are you just surveying the field (a la google search) are you looking for solutions with working projects implemented? Utility scale? Vehicle energy storage? Do you have a specific purpose in mind? I am sure there are experts following that could answer if you gave them a bit clearer target :) ALOHA!
Ben Sullivan
In large quantities? For the forseeable future I see only pumped water storage and maybe synthetic fuels like ammonia <http://thebulletin.org/combating-climate-change-ammonia-fueled-vehicles> and hydrogen <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_production#Thermochemical_cycle> which are produced using electricity, air and maybe water and a few other common raw materials. Unusual battery chemistries, gigantic flywheels, even railcars filled with rock pushed up a hill have been proposed. But if they were practical they would be in widespread use by now. Maybe some breakthrough in battery chemistry will happen. They've been predicting that for many years now. Hopefully it will never reach the point of fusion where the joke is that practical fusion is always 50 years away.
Vincent Maldia
I never actually thought of figuring out energy storage on my own at home - there's tonnes of researchers out there trying to perfect the whole system that I thought it best to leave all these things to the professionals. But at the same time, it's heartening to see that people are intersted to find solutions for themselves. Shows that there's a hope for all of us yet when more and more people are getting concerned about what's being done to save the Earth hey? http://supercheapselfstorage.com.au/facilities/gold-coast/
Michael Maloney
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