Commented on “Triple Pundit”

Posted: January 4th, 2010 | Author: Steve | Filed under: Sustainability | Comments

PeterRijs, this is really fascinating. I don’ know much about chemical batteries, but replacing the electrolyte wouldn’t really be “charging” in the traditional notion. Doesn’t this simply replace one liquid fuel (oil) with another (the electrolyte)? The article doesn’t say what the electrolyte would be…do you happen to know it is, and what the economics are? What about the environmental impact of extracting it? Can it be re-used/recycled?

One nice thing about charging batteries with electricity is that it doesn’t matter where the electricity comes from. While it might currently be coming from a coal-fired plant, in a few years it could be coming from a solar plant and in 50 years it might come from a fusion reactor or a space-based solar grid.

I think that a chemical-based battery might be a good option, if you can “recharge” the electrolyte with a process that uses electricity, similar to the way that hydrogen can be generated from water or natural gas.

Like I said, I am no expert on chemical batteries, so I would love to hear more about this technology.

Originally posted as a comment
by spuma
on Triple Pundit using DISQUS.