Electricity Storage: Can It Work?
I'm interested in developing battery technologies, they have some cool paper batteries they are working on that really spark my interest. How long until we have batteries like the cells the terminators used? When you can drive across the country in your electric car without recharging?
"The curious thing about electricity is that it is the only commodity we can think of -- with the possible exception of soufflé chocolat -- that has to be consumed the moment it is made. Power travels across the grid at the speed of light. And what isn't used is wasted. Now, a new industry is emerging that could change all that. "Grid storage" could, says Pike Research, hit $35 billion in sales by 2020, up from only $1.5 billion today.
Here's how it works. A major problem with wind power is that, well, the wind doesn't constantly blow. When it stops, the sudden drop in electricity can cause the grid to flicker and pop. Moreover, wind blows more at night, when lots of power isn't needed, and much of it is wasted. The solution: Save the energy in giant storage systems and have it ready whenever needed." See the rest HERE