Can a Simple Brick Be the Next Great Battery?

[bxman]

Can a Simple Brick Be the Next Great Battery?

TED talk





Rondo's aim is to build at scale to re power the world's industries,


Time will be is 9:51s for those who do not have the time to waste in viewing


It is what it says on the can

[Mart]

I thought it was a great vid, and he reminded of something I'd heard several years ago, that for net zero, the world will need as much thermal storage as leccy storage.

I don't know if that's correct, but sounds reasonable, so great to hear of the developments in this area.

[CharlieB]

World will need way more thermal storage, in kWh terms anyway. Luckily it already has lots (hot water tanks, thermal mass of building etc) and for new stuff it’s much cheaper to build and maintain thermal storage than electric storage. Still needs to be a massive priority though. (I’ll be asking various questions on here soon about thermal stores and ASHPs.)

[GarethC]

Aagh no time to watch. Does it mention energy density in Wh/l and Wh/kg?

[nowty]

Been there done that, depends what temp you heat your bricks.
https://camelot-forum.co.uk/phpBB3/view ... f=17&t=638

The specific heat capacity of brick is about 800 J/kg per degree and 1kWh is 3,600,000 J.

[GarethC]

So a 2kg brick heated by 300 degrees holds about 133 Wh/kg? Those sensible figures?

Whereas and LFP battery manages, iirc, about 150.

So roughly comparable. However standing losses from high temperature thermal stores are much greater aren't they? Even a modern storage heater loses a lot of heat over 48 hours I believe.

And heat isn't as 'useful' as electricity.

Just thinking as, when I get my heat pump, I'm thinking of dispensing with thermal store or hot water tank, and instead just ensuring my battery is large enough to cover my electricity demand and hot water.

Means finding space for one storage device rather than two (although I realise there's more to consider).

[AE-NMidlands]

but aren't these things aimed at industrial users needing (almost) white heat? I would think at that sort of duty then size wouldn't matter anyway and industrial amounts of insulation could be applied around the heat reservoir. (Even aerogel might be cost-effective!) The killer of course will be the cost of the M (G, T?) Watt-hours of electricity needed...

It's why aluminium smelters were only viable with their own HEP (Dolgarrog, Lochaber(?) - or Blyth, with its own fossil-fuel power station.)

[GarethC]

Yes sorry my domestic thoughts not really applicable to video in OP sorry!

[openspaceman]

It's why aluminium smelters were only viable with their own HEP (Dolgarrog, Lochaber(?) - or Blyth, with its own fossil-fuel power station.)

Kinlochleven Hydro was originally a smelter

[Moxi]

Wylfa Magnox station was the reason Anglesey Aluminium was on the Island and they closed operations just before the Reactors shut down, theres a Canadian start up company in part of the smelter works now trying to make money by recovering hydrocarbons from light film plastic waste via pyrolysis. Not heard about them recently so I suspect they are not finding it easy or lucrative.

Moxi