Challenges, compromise and creativity in energy storage
Perhaps the only good thing to come out of climate change, other than moving to net-zero carbon in our economy, is the motivation it has given engineers to be creative in finding alternatives to oil and gas… For all the technological and industrial progress we have seen in the last 200 years, the great disadvantage is that it has been powered by fossil fuels, with all the attendant problems they bring. When is the Sun coming out? The move away from fossil fuels to renewables has one disadvantage - renewables are inconsistent. The sun does not always shine, the wind does not always blow, in contrast to fossil fuels, which are ‘always there.’ Even so, moving to net-zero carbon is essential to any attempts to mitigate and stabilise the problems thrown up by climate change. As with anything…