Energy storage

Energy storage is the capture of energy produced at one time for use at a later time. A device that stores energy is generally called an accumulator or battery. Energy comes in multiple forms including radiation, chemical, gravitational potential, electrical potential, electricity, elevated temperature, latent heat and kinetic. Energy storage involves converting energy from forms that are difficult to store to more conveniently or economically storable forms.

Overview

Broadly speaking, energy storage can be divided into two categories: physical systems and chemical systems. Physical systems use the physical properties of materials to store energy. Chemical systems, on the other hand, involve energy storage and release through chemical reactions.

Physical systems

Physical systems to store energy include the following:

• Pumped-storage hydroelectricity: A technique for storing energy by using two water reservoirs at different heights.
• Compressed air energy storage: Which works by compressing air and storing it in a container.
• Flywheel energy storage: This works by accelerating a rotor to a very high speed and maintaining the energy in the system as rotational energy.
• Thermal energy storage: These are solutions to store energy in a thermal reservoir for later utilization.

Chemical systems

Chemical energy storage includes technologies such as batteries, fuel cells, and hydrogen storage. Chemical energy storage systems are unique in that they can be deployed both as short-term, small-scale storage systems and as large, long-term storage systems.

Applications

Energy storage has a number of applications in our daily lives. The most common application is in the field of energy management, where it is used to smooth out the production of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. Energy storage is also used in electric vehicles, in the form of batteries, to store electricity for later use.

See also

• Battery (electricity)
• Renewable energy
• Electric vehicle
• Energy conservation
• Energy transformation

References

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