Hot Rocks in a Box: The Rise of Thermal Batteries - ep168: Anand Gopal
Jun 26, 2024
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Anand Gopal, from Energy Innovation, discusses thermal batteries storing renewable energy as heat for industrial processes. Challenges include cost competitiveness with gas. Explore the transition to clean energy in industry and the potential of thermal batteries in reducing emissions and enhancing efficiency.
Thermal batteries store renewable energy as heat for industrial processes.
Transition to electrical heat solutions offers efficiency and cost-effectiveness in reducing emissions.
Energy Innovation influenced major federal climate legislation focusing on emission reduction incentives.
Balancing short-term actions with long-term solutions is crucial in mitigating climate change impacts.
Deep dives
Transitioning to Clean Electricity in Industry and Manufacturing
Replacing fossil fuels with electricity in industry and manufacturing sectors is seen as a crucial step towards reducing emissions and addressing climate change. The potential for utilizing clean power generation and electric vehicles to shift towards electrical heat solutions offers increased efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Anand Gopal's Journey to Climate Innovation
Anand Gopal, the Executive Director at Energy Innovation, shares his journey from growing up in India to becoming involved in climate policy research. Through personal experiences like witnessing the impact of climate change in the Himalayas, he transitioned from civil engineering to working towards accelerating the clean energy transition.
Legislation Supporting Clean Transition in the US
The US government passed major federal climate legislation in 2022, addressing climate change and focusing on reducing emissions. Energy Innovation's research and modeling played a key role in shaping the Inflation Reduction Act, emphasizing the importance of analyzing the bill's impact on climate and the economy.
Challenges and Successes of the Inflation Reduction Act
The Inflation Reduction Act aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by offering incentives for clean electricity, electric vehicles, building electrification, and methane emission fees. Although the bill faced significant reductions and challenges during negotiations, it still managed to impact emissions reduction goals.
The Future of Energy Transition and Carbon Removal
Amidst discussions on carbon removal technologies and geoengineering, the focus remains on accelerating the energy transition towards private goods like electric vehicles and solar energy. While challenges exist in garnering support for engineered carbon dioxide removal, sustaining natural sinks and promoting alternative proteins could offer practical solutions for reducing emissions and addressing climate change.
Looking at the Future of Climate Solutions
As the urgency of climate action intensifies, prioritizing energy transitions, sustainable agricultural practices, and efficient carbon removal strategies becomes increasingly vital. Balancing short-term actions with long-term solutions while considering political and economic realities remains crucial in mitigating climate change impacts.
Challenges in Prioritizing Long-Term Climate Solutions
The necessity of transitioning to clean energy sources, preserving natural sinks, and promoting alternative food production methods are highlighted amidst the skepticism towards engineered carbon dioxide removal solutions. The need for immediate action and a shift towards sustainable practices underscores the complex task of addressing climate change challenges.
Geoengineering and Carbon Removal
Debates around the efficacy and feasibility of geoengineering approaches in climate change mitigation intensify as discussions on carbon removal technologies and nature-based solutions continue. While geoengineering may offer immediate impacts, the reliance on long-term political and financial support for carbon dioxide removal presents substantial challenges in achieving sustainable climate outcomes.
As the world transitions away from fossil fuels, one of the biggest challenges is decarbonizing industrial processes that require consistent, reliable sources of energy to produce high-temperatures. Typically these processes run on fossil gas, but now thermal batteries offer a solution by using electricity to store renewable energy in the form of heat.
Anand Gopal, Executive Director of Policy Research at Californian think tank Energy Innovation, joins Baroness Bryony Worthington to discuss his team's research on using thermal batteries to provide heat for manufacturing. Or as he calls them, hot rocks in a box. By storing intermittent solar or wind energy as the heat of molten salts or crushed rocks, thermal batteries can deliver reliable heat on-demand.
While the tech is almost at commercial availability, there's still one big obstacle: cost. In many countries it is still much cheaper to use gas over electricity, and that makes powering up thermal batteries uneconomical. So what needs to be done to employ them at scale? And will they take the wind out of hydrogen's sails? Find out on this week's episode of Cleaning Up.
