Hardware to Save a Planet Why Long-Duration Energy Storage Breaks Batteries – and How Hydrogen Fixes It with Mia Rath
Jan 22, 2026
Mia Rath, the Cofounder and CTO of Lumen, brings her engineering expertise from aerospace to revolutionize energy storage with solid-state hydrogen batteries. She discusses how metal hydride technology can outperform traditional lithium-ion systems, decoupling power and energy for long-duration storage. Mia explains the safety and efficiency of metal hydrides, highlights their advantages over other hydrogen storage methods, and shares insights on building resilient energy solutions for data centers and warehouses, ultimately aiming to reduce emissions and enhance renewable energy use.
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Decoupling Power From Energy
- Metal hydride storage decouples power and energy by storing hydrogen as mass instead of electrons.
- That enables long-duration storage without state-of-charge degradation and flexible sizing of power and energy separately.
Garage Pivot From Space To Hydrogen
- Lumint started from a space 3D-printing materials idea and pivoted after discovering metal hydrides' hydrogen storage potential.
- Founders proved solid-state hydrogen storage in a Redwood City garage on a shoestring budget.
Storage Beats Compression And Cryo
- Compressed or cryogenic hydrogen storage is capital and energy intensive with boil-off and high pressure costs.
- Metal hydrides let hydrogen absorb at moderate pressures, avoiding multi-stage compressors or deep cryogenics.