electricity

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT, TECHNOLOGY

Moving To 100% Renewable Electricity – These 3 Energy Storage Technologies Can Help Solve The Challenge

TECHNOLOGY Kerry Rippy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory In recent decades the cost of wind and solar power generation has dropped dramatically. This is one reason that the U.S. Department of Energy projects that renewable energy will be the fastest-growing U.S. energy source through 2050. However, it’s still relatively expensive to store energy. And since renewable energy generation isn’t available all the time – it happens when the wind blows or the sun shines – storage is essential. As a researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, I work with the federal government and private industry to develop renewable energy storage technologies. In a recent report, researchers at NREL estimated that the potential exists to increase U.S. renewable energy storage capacity by as m...

To Move Electricity From Areas That Make It To Areas That Need It, The US Needs A Macrogrid

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT, VIDEO REELS

To Move Electricity From Areas That Make It To Areas That Need It, The US Needs A Macrogrid

Many kinds of extreme events can disrupt electricity service, including hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, wildfires, extreme heat, extreme cold and extended droughts. Major disasters can leave thousands of people in the dark. The Texas deep freeze in February knocked out 40% of the state’s electric generating capacity. During such events, unaffected regions may have power to spare. For example, during the February blackouts in Texas, utilities were generating electricity from hydropower in the Pacific Northwest, natural gas in the Northeast, wind on the northern Plains and solar power in the Southwest. Today it’s not possible to move electricity seamlessly from one end of the U.S. to the other. But over the past decade, researchers at national laboratories and universities have been worki...

Texas Residents Left Out In The Cold By Low-Cost Power Produced By Texas Electricity System

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY, VIDEO REELS

Texas Residents Left Out In The Cold By Low-Cost Power Produced By Texas Electricity System

Americans often take electricity for granted – until the lights go out. The recent cold wave and storm in Texas have placed considerable focus on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, the nonprofit corporation that manages the flow of electricity to more than 26 million Texans. Together, ERCOT and similar organizations manage about 60% of the U.S. power supply. From my research on the structure of the U.S. electricity industry, I know that rules set by entities like ERCOT have major effects on Americans’ energy choices. The current power crunch in Texas and other affected states highlights the delicate balancing act that’s involved in providing safe, reliable electricity service at fair, reasonable rates. It also shows how arcane features of energy markets can have big effe...

Clever chemistry turns ordinary bricks into electricity storage devices

12Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE

Clever chemistry turns ordinary bricks into electricity storage devices

The big idea In my synthetic chemistry lab, we have worked out how to convert the red pigment in common bricks into a plastic that conducts electricity, and this process enabled us to turn bricks into electricity storage devices. These brick supercapacitors could be connected to solar panels to store rechargeable energy. Supercapacitors store electric charge, in contrast to batteries, which store chemical energy. Brick’s porous structure is ideal for storing energy because pores give brick more surface area than solid materials have, and the greater the surface area the more electricity a supercapacitor material can hold. Bricks are red because the clay they’re made from contains iron oxide, better known as rust, which is also important in our process. We fill the pores in bricks with an...