{"id":1548,"date":"2013-03-04T07:00:15","date_gmt":"2013-03-04T11:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coolingzone.com\/blog\/?p=1548"},"modified":"2018-03-17T19:11:09","modified_gmt":"2018-03-17T23:11:09","slug":"sustain-x-builds-out-energy-storage-for-renewables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coolingzone.com\/blog\/2013\/03\/04\/sustain-x-builds-out-energy-storage-for-renewables\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustain X Builds out Energy Storage For Renewables"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"grid<\/a> Alot of people don’t generally think about energy storage. They think about the cost of their energy and sometimes they worry if is sustainable or good or bad for our planet.\u00a0 But between the energy plant and our turning the light switch on alot happens.\u00a0\u00a0 The fuel gets mined or created.\u00a0 It gets transported to a plant.\u00a0 And the plant creates the energy (electricity or other types) that is used by us everyday.\u00a0 And the creation of the energy is like a widget factory chunking out one widget after another.\u00a0\u00a0 But demand is not.\u00a0 It is up and down with daily, weekly and seasonal peaks.\u00a0 Widgets can be stored someplace to be shipped out to meet demand patterns.\u00a0 But can energy?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The answer is yes it can.\u00a0 and that is what companies like SustainX<\/a> are doing.\u00a0 Creating sustainable ways to store energy but with independence.<\/p>\n

Research is being done in this space of course, with pumped hydro and compressed air energy storage leading, with salt and other methods being investigated as well (see this “Energy Storage Wars: Which Technology Will Win the Battle?<\/a>” for more).\u00a0 Dr. Suresh Garimella and others published a paper just this year on using salt for\u00a0 topic titled, “Cyclic Operation of Molten-Salt Thermal Energy Storage in Thermoclines for Solar Power Plants<\/a>“. \u00a0 But SustainX is doing it with isothermal compressed air energy storage (ICAES™) system.\u00a0 On the surface of this, it doesn’t seem that remarkable.\u00a0 Compressed air storage is a leading method already.\u00a0 Energy creators happen to like it actually since compressed air energy can last 50 – 80 years, is well understood, and is manageable.\u00a0 The only problem is that it has to be inside a large part of the earth.\u00a0 That’s not a bad thing per se but having large caverns for this can pose a site and energy transport problem.\u00a0\u00a0 But SustainX removes that barrier and allows for compressed air storage in virtually any medium that can handle pressurized storage.\u00a0\u00a0 How does it work?\u00a0 Here’s a snippet from SustainX’s description<\/a><\/p>\n

SustainX’s isothermal compressed air energy storage (ICAES™) technology enables a site-anywhere, zero-emissions storage solution. Through superior thermodynamics, SustainX technology frees compressed air storage from the risks of caverns and the emissions of natural gas.<\/p>\n

Isothermal compression allows air to reach high pressures without the inherent challenges of high temperatures or high thermal losses. Compressed air at near ambient temperature can be stored until needed with minimal energy losses. When power is needed, isothermal expansion can deliver electrical energy with no requirement for natural gas combustion<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can read more about SustainX and their approach to geographic independent energy storage at their web site: SustainX.<\/a><\/p>\n

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