Michael Fitzsimmons

Smart Grid's Enabler - Alternative Energy Storage

ok, while making my coffee i realized what my real problem is with battery storage of alternative energy. rather than store the energy in batteries in order to put that energy back on the grid to recharge EV and hybrid batteries, why not come up with a process that simply charges the end-use batteries directly? in other words, have a bank of EV batteries at the alt energy site, charge them at the site, and truck (or rail) the charged batteries into cities and towns such that they can be exchanged for discharged batteries. kinda like project better place's process, just expanded to the grid. this would have the advantages of lower overal battery requirements and prevents the losses associated with transmission and distribution. it would of course require standardizing on battery design types, both electrically and physically such that a minimum of different battery types would be used.

Smart Grid's Enabler - Alternative Energy Storage

i haven't done any calculations (haven't had any coffee yet...), but my gut feel is that the sheer size of battery capacity needed to provide ample and adequate energy storage for an alternative energy based smart grid will simply be enormous. i wonder if the price estimates for these various battery technologies have taken into account the magnitude of total battery production needed for energy grid backup and for providing batteries for EV's and hybrids? have you by any chance done so? perhaps this could be calculated in cubic meters of batteries needed to smooth out the supply. perhaps it is in the articles you refer to - i haven't read them yet.

there are two storage mechanisms I've been asked about previously that were not covered in this article: electrolysis and molten salt. does the omission of these two technologies mean they aren't cost efficient or that they are technologically insufficient in some way? thanks. btw - good article.

Alternative Energy Storage: It's All About Price vs. Performance

sorry, the above comment should have been Carter reduced US foreign oil imports by "5 million barrels per day", not "50%". typing too fast....

Alternative Energy Storage: It's All About Price vs. Performance

1) Carter's policies reduced US oil imports by 50%, made the country aware of energy's ability to cripple our economy (as the Arabs did), and raised fuel economy standards for automobiles (just think where we would be today without that). to detract from Carter's work in this area (the best of any president's), and not to mention the oil-centric disaster that Bush has been wrt energy policy, is simply not objective. i repeat, it was the bush ethanol mandates that brought on food inflation, not the Carter tax subsidies (note the food inflation didn't really hit until recently as Bush's idiotic ethanol mandates kicked in). you cannot blame Carter's actions in the late 1970s for something that happened in 2008.
2) the DOE publishes something like their prediction of vehicle sales in 2030?? come on John...anyone who has the slightest idea of oil supply/demand fundamentals (and the DOE has proven it hasn't the slightest clue), knows that these DOE estimates of vehicles sales is nothing but pure dreaming. the DOE has an oil centric bias, yet doesn't have a clue about oil supply/demand fundamentals. using their data is not only misleading, but dangerous. statistics, sure. prognostications about the future, F-
3) i understand it's an article about investment ideas. but at the same time, listing investment choices in an area as specific as "alternative energy storage" without acknowledging the possible competition to those investment choices seem an omission to me. much of your analysis on batteries is good, and they will certainly be used in electric only and hybrid cars. however, the larger playing field of solar and wind energy array storage, well, i am not so sure batteries are the way to go. are you? do you think batteries, with the cost and capacity needed, will be the way to go to store energy from wind and solar for those times when the wind isn't blowing and the sun isn't shinning? just curious.

Alternative Energy Storage: It's All About Price vs. Performance

John: nice article and you had some important things to say. that said, i'd like to point out a few things:
1) your implication was that the Carter ethanol tax credits were responsible for the recent food inflation. they were not. it was the bush ethanol *mandates* (i.e. mandates forcing the amounts of ethanol blended gasoline) that caused the huge disruptions in the food chain.
2) the DOE has been dead wrong on every major energy policy affecting the US and the department should simply be shut down. presenting DOE data is a good way to be discredited. for instance, the DOE has been wrong on oil price predictions, supply/demand prognositications, and you yourself point out the lack of support for US produced natural gas transportation. DOE policy and predictions make it one of the most dangerous departments of the US government.
3) i am very surprised an article on alternative energy storage didn't go into more detail on molten salt and electrolysis production of hydrogen. in my opinion (and i am still studying the matter) both these system are potentially more cost effective energy storage mediums for large wind and solar arrays than are batteries, as well as being more environmentally friendly.