Store Energy Like Water In A Bottle : Save Planet
Last hundred years or so had been era of innovations. Most of the inventions and innovations, which make our life comfortable have taken place during this period, The list is long - car, bus, electric train, aero-plane, telephone, electric bulb, washing machine, TV, Fridge you name it and that is there.
But long term storage of electricity or energy has been a real challenge before the inventors so far, very few people worked in this area and big breakthrough is yet to come.
Interestingly, an Indian professor A K Shukla has done some promising work. He works at Indian Institute of Science, Banglore and developing a hybrid super capacitor. This is a device which can store electrical energy and has some advantage over the lead acid battery. His first exhibit is a small prototype, slightly bigger than a typical match box, weighing about two kilos. This can hold enough charge to light a lamp for five hours. But the requirement is for more.
The lead acid battery was invented long long ago around year 1859, and is still strong being the primary means of electricity storage and the Market sustains around Rs25,000 Crore. But it is not able to be used for electricity cars or grid storage. Yes, if further developed, super capacitor hybrid or otherwise will be able to charged faster than the conventional lead acid battery.
Secret of holding energy in a battery is through chemical change in a liquid and this change reversed while drawing current from it. On the other hand, capacitors use physics not the chemistry in storing process, these store energy keeping two mutually isolated metal plates with equal but opposite charges, and discharges it when the plates are connected. The principle of super capacitors is also same, except they hold tremendous amount of charge. Capacitors are charged faster than the conventional batteries and are used when high power is needed on the other hand batteries charge slowly and discharge slowly, it is normally used when you need steady supply of energy over long periods.
Now scientists are working on devices which have goodness of super capacitor as well as batteries so that it may provide energy as well as power . Solar and wind energies only supplement thermal and hydroelectric power, so it does not matter too much if the sun does not shine or the wind does not blow. But if they are major suppliers of energy as expected in the coming time, we need storage of their energy just like we store water in a reservoir so as to make un-interrupted supply even when the source is shut down. Other than battery or super capacitor , pumping water up a hill is another option although it may work only near mountains at the moment. Heating or cooling and then taking out heat when needed, might also work out. Another serious alternative could be compressing air and releasing it at pressure when needed. One can split water using sun's energy and store the hydrogen for burning later. All these technologies basically developed for grid storage, each one has it's own challenges. World over, the governments were not serious about the depleting natural resources of power such as coal, gas and what is most needed is well define policy the technology will soon follow.
The time is just right to act on the part of nation planners.
But long term storage of electricity or energy has been a real challenge before the inventors so far, very few people worked in this area and big breakthrough is yet to come.
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| supercapicitors |
Interestingly, an Indian professor A K Shukla has done some promising work. He works at Indian Institute of Science, Banglore and developing a hybrid super capacitor. This is a device which can store electrical energy and has some advantage over the lead acid battery. His first exhibit is a small prototype, slightly bigger than a typical match box, weighing about two kilos. This can hold enough charge to light a lamp for five hours. But the requirement is for more.
The lead acid battery was invented long long ago around year 1859, and is still strong being the primary means of electricity storage and the Market sustains around Rs25,000 Crore. But it is not able to be used for electricity cars or grid storage. Yes, if further developed, super capacitor hybrid or otherwise will be able to charged faster than the conventional lead acid battery.
Secret of holding energy in a battery is through chemical change in a liquid and this change reversed while drawing current from it. On the other hand, capacitors use physics not the chemistry in storing process, these store energy keeping two mutually isolated metal plates with equal but opposite charges, and discharges it when the plates are connected. The principle of super capacitors is also same, except they hold tremendous amount of charge. Capacitors are charged faster than the conventional batteries and are used when high power is needed on the other hand batteries charge slowly and discharge slowly, it is normally used when you need steady supply of energy over long periods.
Now scientists are working on devices which have goodness of super capacitor as well as batteries so that it may provide energy as well as power . Solar and wind energies only supplement thermal and hydroelectric power, so it does not matter too much if the sun does not shine or the wind does not blow. But if they are major suppliers of energy as expected in the coming time, we need storage of their energy just like we store water in a reservoir so as to make un-interrupted supply even when the source is shut down. Other than battery or super capacitor , pumping water up a hill is another option although it may work only near mountains at the moment. Heating or cooling and then taking out heat when needed, might also work out. Another serious alternative could be compressing air and releasing it at pressure when needed. One can split water using sun's energy and store the hydrogen for burning later. All these technologies basically developed for grid storage, each one has it's own challenges. World over, the governments were not serious about the depleting natural resources of power such as coal, gas and what is most needed is well define policy the technology will soon follow.
The time is just right to act on the part of nation planners.
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