Can a Simple Brick Be the Next Great Battery? | John O'Donnell | TED
The Future of Industrial Heat: A Path to Decarbonization
The Role of Bricks in CO2 Reduction
- The speaker expresses hope regarding a specific brick, which is projected to cut CO2 emissions over the next 50 years and contribute to a 15% reduction in global CO2 levels.
Understanding Industrial Energy Use
- Fire is essential for various processes, including heating homes and industrial production, which relies heavily on fossil fuels.
- Industrial energy use constitutes the largest segment of the world economy, with industrial heat accounting for a quarter of global fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions.
Decarbonizing Industry
- The focus should be on decarbonizing rather than deindustrializing; achieving this requires new methods of generating clean heat.
- Electrification is identified as a promising solution, with analysts predicting it will become a trillion-dollar market due to decreasing costs of wind and solar power.
Challenges in Energy Storage
- While we have the capacity to build renewable energy sources at scale, continuity remains an issue since wind and solar are intermittent.
- Traditional electricity storage methods are often too costly or inefficient for industrial applications; however, storing heat presents a simpler alternative.
Innovations in Heat Storage
- Teams worldwide are developing industrial heat batteries using materials like liquid salts and metals. Rondo's approach utilizes existing materials—brick and iron wire—for efficiency.
- Brick can store significant amounts of energy at lower costs compared to lithium-ion batteries; half a million tons are currently used in steel mills globally.
Combining Technologies for Efficiency
- The combination of brick and iron wire offers cost-effective solutions but poses challenges such as overheating risks that could lead to material failure.
Breakthrough Design Insights
- A key innovation involves heating bricks using radiant heat similar to how toast is made, leading to effective thermal management through design revisions.
Practical Applications of Heat Batteries
- A novel design allows stored energy from heated bricks to be utilized efficiently across various industries by pushing superheated air into systems like kilns or boilers.
Conclusion: Scaling Up Simple Solutions
- This technology represents an opportunity for simple yet scalable solutions that can significantly reduce emissions across industries without complex infrastructure changes.
Rondo's Role in Low-Carbon Fuel Production
Overview of Rondo's Initiatives
- Rondo is actively supplying heat for low-carbon fuel production and is involved in global projects aimed at producing essential materials such as food, chemicals, metals, and cement.
- The company is scaling up brick production to gigawatt levels, with plans to increase this output a hundredfold over the next few years.
Addressing Climate Crisis with New Tools
- The urgency of tackling the climate crisis requires both determination and innovative tools to rapidly develop new energy infrastructure.
- Analysts emphasize that a fully decarbonized world will necessitate twice as much heat-battery storage compared to grid-battery storage.
Benefits of Heat Batteries
- Heat batteries powered by renewable sources like wind and solar are projected to reduce costs associated with manufacturing necessary goods in a decarbonized future.