Climate Progress

Climate Progress: "The Holy Grail of clean energy economy is in sight: Affordable storage for wind and solar
August 31, 2009

Enabling safe, clean energy that will never run out is a key to averting catastrophic climate change. Roughly half the “solution” to global warming is solar and wind [see 'How the world can (and will) stabilize at 350 to 450 ppm']. Of course, many U.S. concentrated solar plants will use low-cost, high-efficiency thermal storage. In the longer term, plug-in hybrids and electric cars are likely to play a key role in storage, if issues surrounding battery life can be solved and/or battery leasing strategies pan out (which would also create a large aftermarket for batteries that utilities could use). Another strategy for grid integration is natural gas. In this repost, guest blogger Craig A. Severance discusses what he learned about available technology from interviews with leading storage firms. Severance is co-author of “The Economics of Nuclear and Coal Power” (Praeger 1976) and a former Assistant to the Chairman and to Commerce Counsel, Iowa State Commerce Commission.

As the world meets this December to set plans to halt global warming, it is expected America and other industrial nations will commit to a daunting task: reduce CO2 emissions 80% by 2050. In just 40 years, a complete revolution in how we use and supply our power must happen, or the world will face catastrophic effects of runaway climate changes."