Random fact about battery storage

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** Love to know some of the assumptions used in the calculation of that claim.

.... Phil

Per-capita electricity consumption in Australia. Population of Australia.

6 hours per day solar generation. 25 grams of lithium for 300 Wh. World output of lithium.

Sylvia.

Source? Lithium isn't the problem, it is stuff lie cobalt and the other alternatives. For Lithium, Bolivia stands ready.

Balanced by time to produce Vs ability for new sources the come online. hint, it is only a matter of laying some extras rail;way tracks and shipping in the mining equipment.

Not to forget molten salts batteries which exist now.

If the entire world did this, it would account for one quarter of the known reserves of lithium. Even with recovery of lithium from worn out batteries (not currently economic), it doesn't seem sustainable.

Sylvia.

My own calculations of the required lithium versus documented world production.

My calculation was prompted by suggestions in another forum that Australia move to a totally solar + battery solution. To my mind, the numbers[*] indicate that it's totally impractical.

Sylvia

[*] Which are actually very conservative, because they make no allowance for extended periods of low solar production.

So you agree there is plednty of lithium.

World production tends to rise when price paid increases.

Lies, damm lies and statistics.

That rather depends on your meaning of "plenty". Australia is not the only country moving away from fossil fuels. It's not completely beyond the bounds of possibility that all the know reserves would be consumed within a few generations.

Sylvia.

And the reserves are depleted more quickly.

Sylvia.

Then we will just have to recycle it, if they don't have something "newer and better".

I'm not worried as they already have alternative working storage devices.

Umm, name something that meets your point. i've been waiting for them to announce peak oil all my adult life.

>

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** And the best of them uses old technology with some new tricks:

Though not cheap to construct, but proven lifespans are 50 to 100 years with low maintenance cost. No exotic or limited supply materials used or having to be re-cycled or disposed of.

Overall efficiency can exceed 80% using only low tech 3 phase AC power - no DC conversion involved.

Recent designs use salt water with oceans serving as the lower dams, so cheaper to construct.

The Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme is essentially a "pumped storage" system.

.... Phil

PV is probably not the most efficient method of large-scale solar energy production out there, so the worry about lithuim supply is a bit of a non-sequitur...

--
Cheers 
Chris

Just use solar thermal generation with liquid salt storage or start using wave energy, that works 24/7. Tidal energy has 4 nulls per day, but they occur at different times in different locations. There are many options and a lot are cheaper and longer lifed than PV/ Li.

..snipped.

FYI, they also have working air pressure storage ad molten salts. There is some other system that escapes he memory.

"Economical" is not a constant.

IMU, wave energy systems always end up as broken equipment.