Calculating the True Carbon Footprint of a Renewable Energy Grid

[PETRUS]

From http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Calculating-the-True-Carbon-Footprint-of-a-Renewable-Energy-Grid.html

Scientists have developed a new way to calculate the carbon footprint of batteries needed to store wind and solar power for the electrical grid.

A key problem is that the US electrical grid has virtually no storage capacity, so grid operators can’t stockpile surplus clean energy and deliver it at night, or when the wind isn’t blowing.

To provide more flexibility in managing the grid, researchers have begun developing new batteries and other large-scale storage devices. But the fossil fuel required to build these technologies could negate some of the environmental benefits of installing new solar and wind farms, according to Stanford University scientists.

“We calculated how much energy it will cost society to build storage on future power grids that are heavily supplied by renewable resources,” says Charles Barnhart, a fellow at Stanford University’s Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP) and lead author of the study. “It turns out that that grid storage is energetically expensive, and some technologies, like lead-acid batteries, will require more energy to build and maintain than others.”

The article goes on to discuss storage option: pumped hydro vs. various kinds of batteries vs. compressed air.

Read more: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Calculating-the-True-Carbon-Footprint-of-a-Renewable-Energy-Grid.html

[FBaggins]

1. Absent quantum advances, chemical storage isn't the future for grid-scale applications

But there's more than one kind of "battery".

Yes - chemical batteries in vehicles may someday be part of a smarter grid... but then the carbon footprint "bill" belongs with transportation, not the grid.

[wtmusic]

2. At least 25% of energy going into a lead-acid battery is wasted by resistance.

8-10% is wasted in line losses getting to those batteries. With switching inefficiencies, probably safe to assume that half of your energy in a grid storage scheme will be wasted.

Grid storage is looking like a non-starter.