In reply to Jed Rothwell's message of Fri, 08 Apr 2005 14:00:38 -0400: Hi, [snip] >I am assuming here that some kind of effective >hydrogen buffer or giant batteries could smooth demand. [snip]
At several times the energy density of lead-acid batteries, and a fraction of one percent of the cost, a possibly very cheap form of temporary energy storage, especially on a large scale, is molten salt. At the temperature difference between molten NaCl (800 �C), and room temperature, the Carnot efficiency is quite high (72%), and Sterling engines could be used to retrieve the energy stored. The only potential problem is the chemical aggressiveness of the molten salt, but I'm sure that could be overcome. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk All SPAM goes in the trash unread.
