Comment on Grid-scale batteries: They’re not just lithium

ericjmorey@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

• gandalf_der_12te@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  I don’t think that batteries will be a bottleneck.

  First of all, solar power can be installed even when there’s not enough batteries. The solar power producers during the day, and fossil legacy plants in the night. There’s no reason to stop transitioning our energy grid 50% just “because we can’t do it 100%”.

  California is partially already doing this: Image (didn’t find a newer image)

  Also, it is unnatural - highly even - that our electricity demand is roughly constant on a 24-hour cycle. It is more natural - for various reasons - that demand for electricity is higher in the daytime. For example, because energy alone is not enough, you also need human workers, and wages are lower in the daytime.

  So, the problem of “how do we keep provide energy 24-hours a day” is not relevant. It’s more like “how can we transition our industry away from the unnatural cycle of producing 24-hours straight and how can we turn back to primarily producing in the daytime” together with "it’s not just solar, we also have other renewables.

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  • ericjmorey@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    “The solar power producers during the day, and fossil legacy plants in the night.”

    Thus is precisely the bottle neck I was referring to.

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  • Wanderer@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    24 hour manufacturing is here to stay.

    Fix costs will have to drop an insane amount.

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