MIT researchers have claimed to develop a new type of concrete that can be used for energy storage, meaning your home could be a battery allowing you to store backup energy in times of blackouts and, if you’re relying on alternative energies like wind and solar, during non-optimal energy collection conditions. The current working example is far from the end-goal, but it is already capable of storing 300 watt-hours per cubic meter, enough energy to power a 10-watt LED lightbulb for 30 hours.
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Excerpt from bgr.com
Researchers at MIT continue to look for ways to turn concrete into a perfect energy storage option. The researchers first shared their findings in 2023, suggesting that concrete could be used to store electricity. The hope is that the research could somehow allow us to move beyond standard lithium-ion batteries, which will eventually become near impossible to create due to the finite amount of lithium found in the world.
Being able to store energy is a very important part of life. The researchers say they can see a ton of different uses for concrete that can store electricity. For instance, a house that is located off the power grid could use solar panels to collect energy throughout the day. That energy could then be transferred to the concrete foundations of the house and then used by releasing it later in the evening, once the sun had sunk below the horizon.
It’s a bit of an “endless possibilities” kind of thing, and the researchers are well aware of just how much work they have to do to get it to a point where it’s actually useable and scaleable to the point where it becomes a more promising option. But, if they can get it there—if they can find out exactly how to make concrete energy storage an everyday occurrence, then they could create some of the cheapest supercapacitors known to humankind.
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