Our world continues to face a twin energy and climate crisis simultaneously, writes Anjani Trivedi in Live Mint. We are becoming increasingly aware that raw materials for fossil fuel are not distributed evenly across the planet’s surface. Refocusing on the real global energy crisis may require us to back off from climate mitigation for a short while. But the writer says this is not inevitable.
The Real Global Energy Crisis Means Refocusing on Batteries
Our passion for electric cars and their batteries has obscured the real need, Anjani Trivedi continues. Instead, she says we should be focusing on storage batteries to run our homes and businesses. But we are looking the other way to resolve escalating bills and power blackouts right now.
We already know the solution, she insists. It’s as simple – and we have the technology – as storing energy and using it when we need it. But that said we are still chasing the dream of electric cars for climate’s sake. And this leads to developing batteries that are generally unsuitable for energy storage systems.
Battery Requirements for Large Energy Storage Systems
Batteries for electric cars and portable devices need to be energy dense, safe, lightweight, and compact all at the same time. Striking the right balance between all four factors simultaneously is an ongoing challenge.
Whereas weight and size are relatively less important for energy storage batteries. Even energy density is less critical. Therefore, refocusing on the real global energy crisis does not require a giant leap forward into new technology.
The storage batteries we already have are improving steadily, and their materials are abundant. They are also able to operate for several thousand cycles of charging and discharging. There is little standing in the way of rolling the technology out, except for cost and the resolve to do it. We’ll be writing more about energy storage systems soon.
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