#video on sensible-heat thermal #energy storage in a 200-liter drum of sand for heating a greenhouse. The design seems badly botched to me in several different ways: silicone-insulated wires leading into the sand, trying to suck air out of the sand instead of blowing air in, using a plastic sewer pipe to try to get air into the sand, running the heating element off an inverter, using 73 volts dc, no data logging, etc. They never made a followup video in 8 months. #energy-storage
on 02026-08-18#news that Shirley Meng, top battery scientist “who also heads a Department of Energy (DOE) research hub, is now heading back to Asia”, is moving from the #USA to #Singapore and “stepping down as director of the $62 million Energy Storage Research Alliance (ESRA) based at Argonne National Laboratory” because of #Trump #politics #energy-storage. But for two years “she will maintain a partial appointment at UChicago and continue to run her lab.”
on 02026-05-01#Hyperspace-Pirate #video on #manufacturing a #jugaad #cooling setup with phase-change thermal #energy-storage in a bucket of ice with copper-tube heat exchange loops in it, one for a water and ethylene glycol coolant and one for an R600 vapor compression refrigeration loop. #solar #energy #solar-energy
on 02026-04-14#PDF on servicing the #Hubble nickel-hydrogen #batteries after 19 years of 15 charge/discharge cycles a day. #energy-storage
on 02026-03-03Nickel-hydrogen #batteries use a hydrogen anode at about 3.4MPa and are commonly used in space systems due to long life. #energy-storage
on 02026-03-03#solar #energy #sand-battery #energy-storage feeding 250 watts into a stove burner in a flowerpot full of (construction?) sand. #toread #video
on 02026-01-14#paper on “Experimental analysis of an institutional solar PV-powered steam cooker with sand-based thermal energy storage” at a high school in Ghana. #energy-storage #sand-battery #energy #solar
on 02025-11-28Another #news item about the #Polar-Night #sand-battery #energy-storage, which utility Lahti Energia will be using for district heating #energy
on 02025-11-27discussion of #Standard-Thermal #energy-storage where pfdietz corrected my misconception that a 600° sensible thermal store can only deliver useful amounts of power at much lower temperatures than 600°, and also most #USA electrical #energy generation is not using supercritical steam
on 02025-11-11a #CC review #paper on salt-hydrate #TCES #energy-storage #toread
on 02025-11-11a review #paper from 02022 of thermal #TCES #energy-storage #materials #toread
on 02025-11-11the modern masonry heater based on #rocket-stoves. #energy-storage #energy
on 02025-09-03overall article on thermal #energy-storage stoves like #Russian-stoves, #ondol, #dikang, etc. #energy #archaeology
on 02025-09-03"Russian stoves" also provided thermal #energy-storage and sleeping space. #energy
on 02025-09-03Chinese "dikang" also provides thermal #energy-storage, and you sleep on it. #energy
on 02025-09-03Korean "ondol" heating stoves provide thermal #energy-storage. #energy
on 02025-09-03household sand batteries, more or less, which have been mainstream in Europe for quite a while. #energy-storage #energy
on 02025-09-03overview of thermal #energy-storage. #energy
on 02025-09-03hot water tanks for thermal #energy-storage, including stratified types, safety issues, etc. #energy
on 02025-09-03very nice overview of #passive-solar #energy-storage in #building. #energy
on 02025-09-03The "Barra system" is an interesting #passive-solar #energy-storage #building system using #thermosiphon air flow. #energy
on 02025-09-03#energy-storage in “earth tubes” that heat or cool air. #energy
on 02025-09-03Thermal #energy-storage in a gigantic cavern in Finland by a company called "Helen". #energy
on 02025-09-03Austin Vernon’s pitch for #Standard-Thermal #hot-dirt #energy-storage. #energy-storage
on 02025-08-27Austin Vernon’s pitch for #Standard-Thermal #hot-dirt #energy-storage. #energy-storage
on 02025-08-27The #Standard-Thermal white paper on #hot-dirt #energy-storage. #energy
on 02025-08-27#video on #CATL "Naxtra" #sodium-ion #batteries for #energy-storage at (rumored) US$10/kWh rather than Li-ion’s US$115/kWh. Also 175Wh/kg, compared to LFP Li-ion’s 185, though far below 250–300 for high-density non-LFP Li-ion batteries. The video is just talking heads and stock footage, though. #energy
on 02025-08-12sensible-heat #energy storage in sandy aquifers can help with chlorinated ethene bioremediation as well as providing seasonal thermal #energy-storage for climate control
on 02025-07-22#video on #Nighthawk trying to form stable colloid #phase-change #energy-storage #materials with sodium lignosulfonate #toread
on 02025-03-26#video about vanadium redox flow batteries, the biggest in the world deployed by Rongke Power at Xinhua Ushi Energy Storage Project in Xinjiang (175MW, 700MWh = 2.5TJ), dwarfing Sumitomo's 51MWh jobbie from 02022, and a 500MW 1.2GWh one planned for Laufenburg, Switzerland. The #Undecided video isn't entirely talking heads and webpage screenshots. #energy #energy-storage
on 02025-03-1550 megawatts of #sodium-ion utility-scale power storage totaling 200MWh of #energy in Qianjiang, Hubei, #China, built by HiNa Battery, developed by Datang Hubei Energy Development, came online in July #energy #energy-storage
on 02025-02-10#video about #Sunamp phase-change thermal #energy-storage; apparently the Sunamp Thermino “thermal batteries” use sodium acetate as the phase-change material. This guy’s leaked 7 liters onto the floor, so Sunamp is replacing them under warranty with a new unit (model Sunamp UniQ eHW 12+ iPV, 14kWh of storage, 2800 watt continuous electrical load, contains 13.7ℓ of water, appliance tag in the video) which weighs 220kg. Supposedly it can charge the acetate at up to 3400W. He powers it off his #photovoltaic #solar panels on the roof, which generate 200 watts even on the “quite overcast” day he’s filming, though they look like several kilowatts peak. He also has electrical batteries for storage.
on 02024-08-13#video #toread although it’s by #Undecided about #solar #energy #energy-storage (“in this liquid” #clickbait)
on 02024-08-13#video about #bootstrapping H₂SO₄ from alabaster #materials #scouting labeled as “satire”. He’s going using washing soda for this, which initially made me think it actually was satire, but thinking about it more, it sort of makes sense: calcite is far less water-soluble than alabaster (and he gets something like 50% yield on the calcite, proving it’s calcite with vinegar). But then don’t we just get sodium sulfate (already very useful for #energy-storage phase-change materials, but not the objective)? A water-soluble sulfate is progress, I guess. He converted most of his bicarb into washing soda first, but that seems like an unnecessary step, just convenient to reduce foaming. Then he electrolyzes it at 13.12 volts and 220mA in a hot-glued-together two-chamber cell with some kind of membrane or salt bridge in the middle, using a postage-stamp-sized iron anode (!!) in the chamber of initially almost pure water and a copper chain for the cathode. His objective with the iron anode is to precipitate out the remaining carbonate. Because the current is going up, he infers that soluble iron sulfate is being formed, although sodium sulfate leaking through his salt bridge (?) would be an alternative explanation. After five hours there was a lot of green/black sludge in the anode chamber; from the greenness he infers that the iron has precipitated all the carbonate. Then he runs it through a second electrolysis using a graphite anode, which nevertheless dissolved (I feel that lead would be a better ghetto choice) and electroplated his copper with iron, which is surprising given the presumably low pH. Then he puts it under UV light in a tiny aluminum-foil chamber, which he says is to ensure no remaining SO₃ molecules. No pH or specific gravity measurement.
on 02024-06-25#video #toread about an #energy-storage “revolution” seems unpromising due to a CSP #solar thumbnail image. #energy
on 02024-06-25#video about #energy-storage in phase-change materials, especially for hot water heaters such as the Thermino from Scottish company Sunamp; they run rectangular coils of brass pipes through a rectangular tank of an unspecified phase-change material; one £1945 model delivers 2.8kW to 15ℓ/minute of water, a price that increases to £3245 when installation is included. They advertise it as a “heat battery”. And Phase Change Solutions sells an “ENRG blanket” with quilted aluminized unspecified polymer encapsulating an unspecified “BioPCM” which has been installed in 1000 commercial buildings; it looks like it’s about a centimeter thick but costs US$4.50 per “square foot”, which would be US$48/m² in modern units and probably on the order of US$5/kg, which is about 100× more expensive than the raw materials. QE Platinum is a competing company and product. Apparently the PCM energy storage market is already half a billion dollars a year. Unfortunately this video is entirely talking-head filler and stock footage. Shame on you, #Undecided. #energy
on 02024-06-24#Nighthawk #video about DIY salt-based thermal phase-change #energy-storage. He’s using food-grade sodium sulfate in what looks like a fertilizer bag but is probably actually being sold as a phase-change material by Duda Energy, then mixing it with sodium chloride to approach the eutectic of the ternary system with water; he says 1.2ℓ water, 240mℓ of (presumably hydrated) sodium sulfate, and 60mℓ of sodium chloride melts at 18°. He says actually it has “multiple melting points” so it probably melts incongruently, giving rise to phase separation through repeated freezing; he suggests that gelling it with carboxymethylcellulose or xanthan gum (his choice) will solve that problem. He suggests sealing it in reusable silicone sandwich bags for use, which you can fit into the pockets of an ice vest. He seems to have measured it supercooling to 9°, then heating back up to 18° when it suddenly freezes, and then a second phase transition at -8°. He made a PCM blanket by soaking a towel in the gel and rolling it up inside a garbage bag, which seems like it would be a good approach to preventing leaks. He heat-sealed the edge of the garbage bag with a butane hand torch. #energy
on 02024-06-23