A new study believes that Bronze Age technology could revolutionize the way we store energy, resulting in substantial savings as the world moves toward a clean-energy grid.
The findings, published in the journal PNAS Nexus, suggest that storing heat in firebricks could reduce capital costs across 149 countries by $1.27 trillion, according to a press release by researchers at Stanford University.
These savings could result in a much quicker transition to a clean grid, ultimately providing low-cost power to more people sooner and helping to eliminate large volumes of toxic pollution associated with millions of premature deaths every year.
First used in kilns and iron-making furnaces before the common era, firebricks are a type of thermal energy storage. Saving power for later is crucial for a reliable grid using renewable sources like solar and wind because they aren't produced 24/7.
"The difference between firebrick storage and battery storage is that the firebricks store heat rather than electricity and are one-tenth the cost of batteries," Mark Z. Jacobson, a civil and environmental engineering professor and the study's lead author, explained in the release. "The materials are much simpler too. They are basically just the components of dirt."
While mining for battery materials is much less polluting than harvesting (let alone burning) dirty fuels, the practice still does come with some environmental contamination. However, the study estimates that firebricks could reduce dependence on batteries by 14.5% by 2050.
The analysis also projects that firebricks could reduce reliance on hydrogen production by 31% and underground heat storage by 27.3%. Furthermore, it could clean up industries like manufacturing that require high heat.
Stanford researchers estimate that 17% of planet-warming carbon pollution comes from dirty fuels burnt for industrial processes. However, storing energy in firebricks would, once again, ensure abundant clean power is readily available with a much lower initial investment, allowing traditionally highly polluting cement factories, for example, to be run 100% by renewable energy.
"By storing energy in the form closest to its end use, you reduce inefficiencies in energy conversion," co-author Daniel Sambor said in the press release. "It's often said in our field that 'if you want hot showers, store hot water, and if you want cold drinks, store ice'; so this study can be summarized as 'if you need heat for industry, store it in firebricks.'"
The Stanford team isn't the only one turning to common materials or ancient tools as an affordable solution to the world's energy woes.
Researchers in Sweden are using pebbles to store heat. Meanwhile, scientists at the Tokyo University of Science are working on a commercial breakthrough for a powerful salt-based battery. If successful, their tech could make electric vehicles available at an even lower price point, getting more polluting gas-gluggers off the road.
What makes the firebrick method unique, according to Jacobson, is its potential to quickly make an impact across multiple sectors.
"What excites me is that the impact is very large, whereas a lot of technologies that I've looked at, they have marginal impacts," Jacobson said in the release. "Here I can see a substantial benefit at low cost from multiple angles, from helping to reduce air pollution mortality to making it easier to transition the world to clean renewables."
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