Batteries are the key to the future of the most abundant sources of renewable energy, solar and wind power for one obvious reason: intermittence. If power generators want to replace fossil fuels ...

Lithium-ion batteries dominate headlines, but most global energy storage relies on simpler methods. These methods include pumped hydro, compressed air, gravity, and thermal storage using sand or rock.

Haley Mast is a freelance writer, fact-checker, and small organic farmer in the Columbia River Gorge. She enjoys gardening, reporting on environmental topics, and spending her time outside ...

Polar Night Energy’s heat storage system is a 23-foot-tall steel container filled with 100 tons of sand. (Polar Night Energy uses the lowest grade of sand that isn’t used in construction.) Hot air ...

When you think of energy solutions, you might not imagine 100 tonnes of builders’ sand piled inside a huge silo. But one company has actually found that sand can be the secret sauce to energy storage, ...

When spring arrives and the heating season comes to an end, keeping warm becomes less of an issue. However, scientists remind us that it is not just a seasonal necessity -- heat is also a valuable ...

The systems, which can store clean energy as heat, were chosen by readers as the 11th Breakthrough Technology of 2024. We need heat to make everything from steel bars to ketchup packets. Today, a ...

Scientists from China have developed a novel optimization method for medium-depth ground source heat pumps, using an improved chaos particle swarm optimization. They coupled it with either a heat ...