In: technology. Also: [Energy gen](Energy generation.md).

Energy storage

A few sources of energy storage:

electrical batteries
electrical capacitors
compressed air
compressed springs
stored heat
flammable gasses (H hydrogen, CH4 methene)
mechanical torsion (mechanical clocks)
gravity

Video

No more Lithium! NEW Sodium-Ion battery to BEGIN mass production

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ts2vRBhj658

Are these batteries the future of energy storage?

Undecided with Matt Ferrell
https://youtube.com/watch?v=n1TBAWlbXKI

How a brick & rock battery is changing energy storage

Undecided with Matt Ferrell
https://youtube.com/watch?v=B3JlTVt0jLw
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 sidestep the complications that come with chemical batteries… with a brick battery.
And another company’s weapon of choice is a crushed volcanic rock battery. Talk about going back to basics to store massive amounts of energy.

Articles

Europe’s deepest mine to become giant gravity battery

By Anthony Cuthbertson, posted 08 February 2024
https://independent.co.uk/tech/gravity-battery-mine-renewable-energy-b2492087.html
Estimates suggest abandoned mine shafts could store enough electricity to power the planet

In Europe’s clean energy transition, industry turns to heat pumps

By Paul Hockenos, posted January 19 2023
https://e360.yale.edu/features/europe-industrial-heat-pumps
With soaring gas prices due to the Ukraine war and the EU’s push to cut emissions, European industries are increasingly switching to high-temperature, high-efficiency heat pumps.
Combined with the boom in residential use, the EU is now hoping for a heat pump revolution.
Heat pumps are three to five times more efficient than gas boilers, according to the International Energy Agency.
The EU sees the buildout of heat pumps as crucial to its goal of slashing greenhouse gas emissions.
A German think tank estimates a widespread conversion to heat pumps could cut EU gas use by 32 percent in five years.

The promise of batteries that come from trees

By Chris Baraniuk, posted 4th January 2023
https://bbc.com/future/article/20221215-the-batteries-made-from-wood
As demand for electric vehicles soars, scientists are searching for materials to make sustainable batteries. Lignin, the stuff that makes trees woody, is shaping up to be a strong contender.
With more and more people buying electric cars and storing energy at home, the global appetite for batteries is expected to grow sharply in the coming years. As Lehtonen sees it, “the demand is just mind-blowing”.
The commercial viability of all these ideas is yet to be proven. In theory, you could make a battery that uses polymers from lignin in the electrolyte as well as lignin-derived carbons in the anode.

The underwater ‘kites’ generating electricity as they move

By Tim Ecott, posted 29 November 2021
https://bbc.com/news/business-59401199
A pair of sleek, winged machines are “flying”, or at least swimming beneath the dark waters of the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic
Known as “sea dragons” or “tidal kites”, they look like aircraft, but these are in fact high-tech tidal turbines, generating electricity from the power of the ocean.

Ditch the batteries: off-grid compressed Air Energy Storage

Compressed air energy storage is the sustainable and resilient alternative to chemical batteries, with much longer life expectancy, lower life cycle costs, technical simplicity, and low maintenance
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2018/05/ditch-the-batteries-off-grid-compressed-air-energy-storage.html

How to build a Bike Generator with control panel

We built a pedal-powered generator and controller, which is practical to use as an energy source and exercise machine in a household - and which you can integrate into a solar PV system.
We provide detailed plans to build your own, using basic skills and common hand tools.
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2022/03/how-to-build-bike-generator.html

Pedal Powered Farms and Factories: the forgotten future of the stationary bicycle

The possibilities of pedal power largely exceed the use of the bicycle
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2011/05/pedal-powered-farms-and-factories.html

The revenge of the hot water bottle

https://lowtechmagazine.com/2022/01/the-revenge-of-the-hot-water-bottle.html
A hot water bottle is a sealable container filled with hot water, often enclosed in a textile cover, which is directly placed against a part of the body for thermal comfort. The hot water bottle is still a common household item in some places - such as the UK and Japan - but it is largely forgotten or disregarded in most of the industrialised world. If people know of it, they usually associate it with pain relief rather than thermal comfort, or they consider its use an outdated practice for the poor and the elderly.

Guide to choosing off-grid batteries

A tidy install of eight 6-volt L-16s for a typical small, off-grid home
https://otherpower.com/off-grid-battery-guide