Batteries for grid energy storage are N/A. Batteries have physical limitations. There was a good Ted or TedX Talk on this subject.
iconoclast421
July 20, 2016 6:57 pm
The daily output of that 25 sq km solar farm is equivalent to 2000 barrels of oil. We would need 10,000 of those solar farms to match the quantity of oil consumed in the US. And even if we had all those farms, we would have no practical way to convert all that energy into useful transportation. There isnt even enough lithium and even if there was, we’d spend more fossil fuels mining the stuff. The EROI of solar is so low that you’d have to reserve at least 25% of the solar capacity just to pay the energy costs of producing the solar panels. Add another 25-50% for the energy costs of producing the batteries and now you’re looking at nearly 20,000 solar farms required to replace just our petroleum usage. This is half a million sq km, which is basically all of Arizona AND New Mexico! If you want to get rid of natural gas, you’d basically have to throw in most of texas too.
Batteries for grid energy storage are N/A. Batteries have physical limitations. There was a good Ted or TedX Talk on this subject.
The daily output of that 25 sq km solar farm is equivalent to 2000 barrels of oil. We would need 10,000 of those solar farms to match the quantity of oil consumed in the US. And even if we had all those farms, we would have no practical way to convert all that energy into useful transportation. There isnt even enough lithium and even if there was, we’d spend more fossil fuels mining the stuff. The EROI of solar is so low that you’d have to reserve at least 25% of the solar capacity just to pay the energy costs of producing the solar panels. Add another 25-50% for the energy costs of producing the batteries and now you’re looking at nearly 20,000 solar farms required to replace just our petroleum usage. This is half a million sq km, which is basically all of Arizona AND New Mexico! If you want to get rid of natural gas, you’d basically have to throw in most of texas too.