Batteries aren’t the only storage solution for the power grid that could reduce the need for new electrical plants. The latest issue of The Economist highlights other renewable solutions, including the Ice Bear which is made by Ice Energy. The Ice Bear stores energy by freezing water at night when demand is low. During the day, the units use the ice rather than the AC unit’s compressor to cool the hot refrigerant, cutting cooling costs substantially and saving 10 tons of harmful C02 emissions per year. In rich countries, new forms of storage and generation are eating away at the model that has sustained the electricity industry since the days of Thomas Edison, according to the article. And, in parts of the developing world where there are no incumbents, new solutions such as the Ice Bear offer the best chance for whole populations to get any power at all.
Read the full article: We make our own: Renewables are no longer a fad but a fact of life, supercharged by advances in power storage