Both good, but not available at the level natural gas currently is.
Manufacturing batteries at that scale isn’t really any more environmentally friendly, and lithium is in high demand.
For pumped hydro, the issue, at least in America, is that where existing reservoirs can hold that quantity of water, it’s already committed for other uses, mostly irrigation. Building out new reservoirs to store the water for electricity is a huge endeavor in and of itself.
Hopefully the shortcomings of batteries and pumped storage will be addressed in time for us to smoothly dial down natural gas usage before we run out, but capitalism doesn’t typically work that way.
Batteries stay around for a decade, gas needs to be bought all over again. When the batteries die, they are the richest source of lithium for new batteries. Speaking from an EU perspective with mandatory recycling quotas for raw materials.
Both good, but not available at the level natural gas currently is.
Manufacturing batteries at that scale isn’t really any more environmentally friendly, and lithium is in high demand.
For pumped hydro, the issue, at least in America, is that where existing reservoirs can hold that quantity of water, it’s already committed for other uses, mostly irrigation. Building out new reservoirs to store the water for electricity is a huge endeavor in and of itself.
Hopefully the shortcomings of batteries and pumped storage will be addressed in time for us to smoothly dial down natural gas usage before we run out, but capitalism doesn’t typically work that way.
Batteries stay around for a decade, gas needs to be bought all over again. When the batteries die, they are the richest source of lithium for new batteries. Speaking from an EU perspective with mandatory recycling quotas for raw materials.
Batteries don’t have to be lithium based. (Power density is not an issue for a building.)