Better Batteries Could Revolutionize Solar, Wind Power | Sci-Tech Today

By Wendy Koch May 19, 2013 8:14AM  Faced with growing global demand for electricity and a need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that worsen climate change, countries around the world are intensifying efforts to improve the lithium-ion battery or replace it. Still, batteries face obstacles, including cost and safety. Batteries are one of many ways to store grid-scale energy.

On an arid mountain in Eureka County, Nev., a mining company believes it's struck the 21st-century equivalent of gold. The precious commodity is vanadium, a metal that can be extracted from shale rock and used to make powerful, long-lasting batteries for cars, homes and utilities.If Vancouver-based American Vanadium gets federal approval for its proposed Gibellini Hill Project -- a 30-day public comment period ends May 29 -- it will operate the only vanadium mine in the United States. The battle to build a better battery is intensifying as the United States and other countries, faced with growing global demand for electricity and a need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that worsen climate change, look to expand carbon-free renewable energy such as wind and solar. Batteries are key. They can directly power electric cars and buses, and indirectly, homes and big buildings, by storing solar and wind power for times when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. They balance out renewables that produce energy intermittently, so consumers can power laptops or run refrigerators 24/7.