Are the Batteries Ready? 100% Clean Energy Requires Progress on Storage

By John Farrell
August 7, 2012

 

In the long run, there’s no avoiding energy storage for a 100% renewable energy society.  The two major sources of renewable power are wind and sun, and they are either fickle or reliably not available at night.
The problem is that the simplest energy storage option for electricity is batteries, and this image from Wikipedia (hat tip to Robert Rapier) illustrates a significant technical barrier: our simplest option is also among the least energy dense material we have.
There are two likely paths to a 100% renewable energy future in these circumstances: mass distribution of low-density, low-cost storage or higher density storage.
In some respects, we’re already moving along the first path.  Widespread availability of battery-powered iPads and laptops has led to great strides in greater energy density of batteries and lower cost. The following chart (used in our Democratizing the Electricity System report) illustrates the changes in the past 15 years.