How a Sand Battery Could Revolutionize Home Energy Storage

Undecided with Matt Ferrell
26 Mar 202413:18

Summary

TLDRThe video discusses the emerging technology of thermal energy storage (TES), particularly sand-based batteries, for residential use. It highlights the efficiency and potential of TES to complement renewable energy sources like solar panels in reducing energy costs and ecological impact. Challenges such as size, cost, and the thermodynamic limitations of converting heat back to electricity are addressed, alongside innovative solutions like underground sand tanks and water heater-like devices. The video also touches on the promising future of TES with government incentives and technological advancements making it increasingly accessible and affordable.

Takeaways

  • 🔋 Sand is a key ingredient in a new type of thermal energy storage (TES) being used for residential purposes, offering an alternative to traditional lithium-ion batteries.
  • 🏠 Companies like Batsand are pioneering the use of TES in individual homes, aiming to reduce energy costs and increase self-sufficiency.
  • 💰 The high cost of residential TES systems, including installation, is a significant barrier to widespread adoption.
  • 🌡️ TES devices store energy as heat and can be charged by passing electricity through a heating element, then discharged through a cooling process.
  • 🌞 When combined with solar panels and heat pumps, TES can significantly reduce a home's reliance on traditional energy sources for heating.
  • 🔌 Residential TES systems have high round-trip efficiency rates (RTEs), meaning they retain a high percentage of the energy stored for later use.
  • 📈 The size of TES systems has been a challenge for home use, but underground tanks and innovative designs are making it more feasible.
  • 🌍 The adoption of TES is expected to increase with the growth of renewable energy and the need for efficient storage solutions.
  • 💸 Financial incentives, such as tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the US, are helping to make TES more affordable for homeowners.
  • 🔄 While TES is efficient for heating, its efficiency drops significantly when converting heat back into electricity, limiting its versatility.
  • 🌱 The environmental benefits of TES are aligned with the shift towards green energy, as they only store and use the energy that is generated from renewable sources.

Q & A

  • What is the primary use of sand in the context of the script?

    -Sand is used as a medium for thermal energy storage (TES) in batteries, due to its ability to hold onto a lot of heat for a long time.

  • What percentage of total US residential energy use is dedicated to heating?

    -Over 30% of total US residential energy use is dedicated to heating, as stated by the University of Michigan.

  • How does the Tesla Powerwall address the issue of renewable energy's intermittency?

    -The Tesla Powerwall is a residential battery system that stores energy, helping to overcome the intermittency issue of renewable energy sources like solar panels by providing energy when the production is not consistent.

  • What is the round-trip efficiency rate (RTE) and why is it important for energy storage devices?

    -The round-trip efficiency rate (RTE) is the percentage of electricity put into storage that is later retrieved. It is important for any kind of energy storage device as it indicates the efficiency of energy storage and retrieval, with a higher RTE meaning less energy loss.

  • What are the benefits of using sand as a thermal medium in TES devices?

    -Sand has a low specific heat, allowing it to heat up quickly with less energy, and its high density enables it to store large amounts of thermal energy. Additionally, sand batteries are low maintenance, have long lifespans, and can be heated well above the boiling point of water, maintaining high RTE.

  • What is the main challenge in bringing TES technology to residential homes?

    -The main challenge is the size of TES devices, as they need to be large to optimize heat storage, which makes them difficult to miniaturize for home use and increases the cost of installation.

  • How does the Batsand system plan to address the issue of space requirements for residential TES?

    -Batsand plans to hide the sand tank underground, similar to a septic tank, to save space and provide insulation, making the system more suitable for residential use.

  • What are the key features of the NEStore thermal energy storage device?

    -The NEStore combines special vacuum insulation with thinner-than-average tank walls, allowing it to hold more water and more heat than other devices in its weight class. It is designed to replace traditional water heaters and can work with PV systems.

  • Why have TES devices been overlooked for residential use until now?

    -TES devices have been overlooked due to their size, the cost of installation, and the availability of more mature storage technologies like lithium-ion batteries. Additionally, converting heat back into electricity is less efficient, making TES less versatile.

  • How does the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the US benefit TES devices?

    -The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provides a tax credit of up to 30% for TES devices, and up to 40% for projects made with domestic materials, making them more affordable for households and encouraging domestic innovation and manufacture of TES units.

  • What is the potential future of TES in the residential market?

    -The future of TES in the residential market looks promising, with the potential for more companies to enter the scene and increased affordability due to incentives like the IRA, leading to a growth in domestic innovation and competition.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 Introduction to Sand Batteries and Residential TES

This paragraph introduces the concept of sand batteries and their role in thermal energy storage (TES). It highlights the launch of the world's commercial sand battery, capable of supplying power for 10,000 people, and the emerging trend of residential TES. The video's host, Matt Ferrell, sets the stage for a discussion on how heat storage can impact our lives and homes. It also touches on the ecological impact and safety issues associated with lithium-ion batteries, presenting TES as a promising alternative. The paragraph emphasizes the efficiency of TES when used with heat pumps and solar panels, as demonstrated by the Drake Landing Solar Community in Alberta, Canada.

05:05

🏠 Challenges and Innovations in Home TES

This paragraph delves into the challenges of implementing TES on a residential scale, primarily due to size constraints. It introduces Batsand, a company offering residential heat batteries that ingeniously hide sand tanks underground, akin to septic tanks. The discussion includes the practicality of sand as a thermal medium due to its low specific heat and high density, as well as the non-flammable and non-toxic nature of properly prepared sand. The paragraph also mentions the NEStore by Newton Energy Solutions, a TES device that functions similarly to a water heater and can replace it, offering impressive heat storage capacities. The focus is on the innovative approaches to make TES viable for home use.

10:07

💰 Economic and Environmental Considerations of TES

The final paragraph addresses the economic and environmental aspects of TES. It discusses the high costs associated with residential TES systems, such as the NEStore and Batsand's 14kW system, and the challenges of fitting these devices into household budgets. The paragraph also highlights the impressive round-trip efficiency (RTE) rates of these systems, which can reach up to 95%. It acknowledges the niche status of thermal batteries and their growing relevance with the rise of renewable energy sources. The discussion concludes with optimism for the future of TES, spurred by incentives like the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the US, which could make TES more affordable and widespread.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Thermal Energy Storage (TES)

Thermal Energy Storage (TES) refers to systems that store energy in the form of heat. These systems charge by converting electricity into heat through a heating element within a thermal medium, such as sand or water, which can retain heat for extended periods. The heat is then discharged and utilized through a cooling process. In the video, TES is highlighted as an alternative to traditional lithium-ion batteries, particularly for heating and cooling applications in homes, offering high round-trip efficiency rates and compatibility with renewable energy sources like solar panels.

💡Sand Battery

A sand battery is a type of TES system that uses sand as the thermal medium to store and retain heat. Due to sand's low specific heat and high density, it can heat up quickly and store large amounts of thermal energy, making it an effective medium for TES. The concept of using sand batteries for residential energy storage is explored in the video, with the potential to reduce utility bills and increase energy independence.

💡Round-Trip Efficiency (RTE)

Round-Trip Efficiency (RTE) is the percentage of energy that is retained and can be retrieved from an energy storage device after it has been charged and discharged. A higher RTE indicates better performance and less energy loss during the storage process. In the context of the video, TES devices are noted for their high RTEs, which can exceed 90%, making them efficient for heating applications.

💡Renewable Energy

Renewable energy refers to power generated from natural resources that can be replenished continuously, such as sunlight, wind, and water. The emphasis in the video is on using renewable energy sources, like solar panels, in conjunction with TES systems to create a sustainable and efficient home energy solution that reduces reliance on fossil fuels and decreases environmental impact.

💡Intermittency

Intermittency in the context of renewable energy refers to the fluctuating and unpredictable nature of energy production from sources like solar and wind. This can pose challenges for relying on these sources for consistent power supply. The video discusses how residential battery systems, including TES, can mitigate the issue of intermittency by storing energy for use when the renewable energy source is not producing power.

💡Lithium-Ion Batteries

Lithium-ion batteries are a type of rechargeable battery widely used in electronics and energy storage systems due to their high energy density and efficiency. However, the video points out that their dominance comes with downsides, such as ecological impact and potential safety issues. TES is presented as an alternative energy storage solution with different advantages, particularly for thermal energy storage.

💡Heat Pumps

Heat pumps are devices that move heat from one location to another. They are efficient in heating and cooling systems by utilizing a small amount of electricity to transfer heat, making them suitable for use with TES systems. In the video, heat pumps are mentioned as components that can work synergistically with TES to maintain a comfortable temperature in homes, contributing to energy efficiency.

💡Sustainability

Sustainability refers to the ability to maintain a process or system over the long term without depleting resources or causing environmental harm. In the context of the video, sustainability is a key driver for the adoption of TES systems, which, when used with renewable energy sources, can lead to reduced emissions and reliance on fossil fuels.

💡Cost-Effectiveness

Cost-effectiveness refers to the value obtained in relation to the money spent. In the video, cost-effectiveness is a critical factor in the adoption of TES systems. While TES offers high efficiency and potential environmental benefits, the initial investment and installation costs can be prohibitive for many homeowners.

💡Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is a U.S. legislation aimed at addressing climate change and reducing inflation. In the context of the video, the IRA provides incentives for adopting energy storage solutions, including TES, by offering tax credits that can make these technologies more affordable for households.

💡Energy Independence

Energy independence refers to the ability of a household or region to generate and manage its energy needs without reliance on external energy sources. The video discusses how TES systems, when combined with renewable energy sources like solar panels, can contribute to energy independence by reducing the need for grid-supplied energy and increasing self-sufficiency in terms of heating and cooling.

Highlights

Sand is being used as a material for thermal energy storage (TES) in batteries.

The world's commercial sand battery is capable of supplying power for about 10,000 people.

Companies like Batsand are offering heat batteries for individual homes.

Over 30% of total US residential energy use is dedicated to heating.

Thermal batteries store energy as heat and can be used in combination with heat pumps and solar panels.

Drake Landing Solar Community got a record-breaking 96% of their yearly heating from solar energy.

Thermal batteries have very good round-trip efficiency rates (RTE), with commercial and industrial thermal batteries hitting RTEs of 90% or more.

Sand has low specific heat and high density, making it ideal for thermal energy storage.

Batsand plans to hide the sand tank underground, similar to a septic tank, to save space and provide insulation.

The NEStore device from Newton Energy Solutions (NES) functions like a water heater and can replace it.

The NEStore is made from fully recyclable materials and can be installed in under two hours.

Thermal batteries have been a niche technology for much of their 200-year existence due to size and cost.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the US offers tax credits for TES devices, making them more affordable.

TES devices work well in tandem with other energy storage systems like the Tesla Powerwall.

By 2030, resistance electric heaters are expected to be more energy and emissions efficient than gas heaters.

Transcripts

00:00

Sand. It’s coarse, it's rough, and it can make for  a great battery. And as weird as that might sound,  

00:05

it’s just one example of the many earthy  materials currently used for thermal energy  

00:09

storage (or TES). A while back, we covered the  debut of the world’s commercial sand battery,  

00:14

which is big enough to supply  power for about 10,000 people. Now,  

00:18

sand-based energy storage has reached a  new frontier: individual homes. Companies  

00:23

like Batsand are currently offering heat  batteries that bring hot and fresh sand  

00:27

directly to your door. Seems you can get  just about anything delivered these days.

00:31

But what’s stopped us from experimenting  with residential TES before? How will heat  

00:34

storage impact our lives in our homes? And where  exactly are homeowners supposed to put this stuff?

00:40

I’m Matt Ferrell … welcome to Undecided. 

00:49

This video is brought to you by Factor and all  of my patrons on Patreon, but more on that later.

00:54

Your utility bill probably already tells  you the story that we spend a lot of money  

00:57

heating and cooling our homes. In fact,  according to the University of Michigan,  

01:01

over 30% of total US residential  energy use is dedicated to heating.  

01:06

Water heating comes in at about 13%,  which is really just another kind of  

01:09

temperature control. According to the U.S.  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,  

01:13

one-fifth of all energy produced in the United  States goes towards a building’s thermal load.

01:19

Residential battery systems like  the Tesla Powerwall are a great  

01:22

way to get around what some consider  the fatal flaw of renewable energy:  

01:26

intermittency. But the dominance of lithium-ion  batteries comes with a host of its own downsides, 

01:30

like some of those ecological  impact and potential safety issues.

01:34

Thermal batteries or thermal energy storage  (TES) devices are one alternative that’s  

01:39

worth watching. We’ve examined them  before, but here’s a quick refresher.

01:42

When it comes to TES, the acronym  is pretty straightforward: they’re  

01:46

batteries that store energy as heat.  You charge them by passing electricity  

01:49

through a heating element embedded in your  thermal medium. This medium can be water,  

01:53

sand or whatever, so long as it can hold  onto a lot of heat for a long time. We  

01:59

can then discharge and release the heat at a  later date through a basic cooling process.

02:03

When used in combination with  heat pumps and solar panels,  

02:06

TESs can do some amazing things. As far back  as 2012, Drake Landing Solar Community got  

02:12

a record-breaking 96% of their yearly  heating from solar energy. In 2015-16,  

02:18

that number jumped 100%. That was in  cold, dark Alberta, Canada, of all places!

02:24

TESs tend to have very good round-trip  efficiency rates (RTE), which is the  

02:28

percentage of electricity put into storage that’s  later retrieved. It’s very important for any kind  

02:33

of energy storage device. A 100% RTE would mean  that every drop of energy stored can be withdrawn  

02:39

and used later. It’s also thermodynamically  impossible. For context, lead-acid batteries  

02:43

have an RTE of about 70%. Lithium-Ion batteries  for large energy storage, like those in many  

02:49

industrial-scale energy storage facilities and  maybe even your home, have an RTE of around 90%.  

02:55

But commercial and industrial thermal batteries  are reportedly hitting RTE’s of 90% or more.

03:00

This got a lot of innovators thinking… if v TESs are working so well for big applications,  

03:05

why not bring them home? But can TESs  work on a small scale? And if they can,  

03:09

why haven’t we tried this sooner?

03:11

But first…why sand? I don’t like sand. If you’ve  ever visited the beach and made the mistake of  

03:16

ditching your flip flops a little too soon, you’re  all too aware that sand holds heat remarkably  

03:22

well. That’s because sand has low specific  heat, meaning it doesn’t need a lot of energy  

03:31

to heat up fast. And sand’s high density allows  it to store large amounts of thermal energy. No  

03:37

chemical reactions means sand batteries are  low maintenance and have long life spans.

03:41

We can also heat it to well above the boiling  point of water, and hold onto that heat with  

03:45

an RTE well above 90%. For these reasons we’ve  seen companies like Polar Night achieve viral  

03:50

buzz around their commercial sand batteries.  We just heat the sand with renewable energy,  

03:54

then we use air to move the heat from  the sand to your house. Seems easy,  

03:59

so why haven’t we been doing it all along?

04:01

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04:05

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get early ad free versions of my videos, and  to all of you for supporting the channel. So  

05:26

why haven’t we been doing home TES all along?

05:28

The main reason is size. Mass matters,  

05:31

especially for storing heat! I don’t  know what your living situation is like,  

05:34

but I don’t really have room in my garage  for a 23-foot (7ish meter) tall silo of sand.

05:40

That’s where companies like Latvian-based  Batsand come in. It’s difficult to reduce  

05:44

these devices down to a residential size, so  Batsand cleverly plans to hide the sand tank  

05:49

underground … not unlike a septic tank. This  is a necessity, as even the smallest Batsand  

05:55

tank is going to measure 40 cubic meters. Though  it’s not all about space consideration — having a  

06:00

tank underground helps to keep everything well  insulated, kinda like a DIY geothermal system.

06:05

Better yet, sand is dirt cheap, non-toxic, and (if  it has been properly selected and cleaned of other  

06:10

organic materials) non-flammable. Numbers-wise,  the device is intended for 300-400 square-meter  

06:16

buildings and can store 10,680 kW/h. That’s  impressive, assuming you’ve got the recommended  

06:22

30-plus kW of solar panels on your property.  What’s the catch? We just touched on it … it's  

06:28

that massive sand tank. Just like a geothermal  system, digging your yard up isn’t cheap, I can  

06:33

talk about that first hand. Something to keep in  mind for later when we talk about price points.

06:37

Netherlands-based Newton Energy Solutions (NES)  have a very different kind of TES device to offer,  

06:42

though. They’re keeping it simple with a no-frills  design that falls somewhere between a TES,  

06:46

a water heater, and a buffer tank. Fun side-note:  a water heater is already a thermal battery,  

06:51

technically speaking. It’s just one that  can’t turn the heat back into electricity.  

06:55

But seeing as you’re already spending most of  your electricity on heat, that’s not much of  

06:58

an issue. No surprise then that the NEStore looks  and functions a lot like a water heater. In fact,  

07:04

if you don’t have enough space for both, the  NEStore can flat out replace your water heater.

07:08

The NEStore combines special vacuum insulation  with thinner-than-average tank walls. Together,  

07:13

these two small advantages allow the  NEStore to hold more water and much  

07:16

more heat than other devices in its weight  class. The system is available in two sizes:  

07:21

The smaller one has water volumes  of 214 liters and 20 kWh capacity.  

07:26

The larger one is 320 liters and a  29 kWh capacity. According to NES,  

07:32

even the smaller size can heat 600 liters of tap  water to 40 C (104 F). That’s a lot of showers!

07:40

As a nice sustainability cherry on  top, NES says their device is made  

07:43

from fully recyclable materials. Their  “plug-n-play” tech is meant to replace  

07:47

existing water heaters and work with  your PV systems. The company claims  

07:50

it can install a NEStore in your house in  under two hours. Of course, we’ll have to  

07:55

see what third-parties say once the NEStore  is on the market. This goes for Batsand too.

08:00

So if TESs are so great, and  can work on a residential scale,  

08:03

why have we overlooked them until  now? There’s a lot of little reasons,  

08:07

but the most prominent one is size.  Now this is oversimplifying it a lot,  

08:11

but as I mentioned earlier, bigger things  cool off slower, so if you want to optimize  

08:15

your thermal energy storage device, it  pays to be big. That’s thermodynamics 101.

08:19

But it’s hard to both go big and go home. It  puts these devices at odds with miniaturization  

08:25

and home deployment, and of course, really  drives up the price. These factors have  

08:29

traditionally made TESs a hard sell, especially  when standard, fossil-fuel-burning methods of  

08:34

heating are comparatively cheap and small. This  goes for the other use cases too. Why attach your  

08:40

solar farm or home solar panels to a less mature  technology when more mature storage technologies,  

08:45

like lithium-ion batteries, are available? And, whether you’re a homeowner or a utility  

08:49

company, it’s hard to take a risk on a  device that may never pay itself back.

08:53

The numbers also don’t look as good if you  try to convert heat back into electricity,  

08:56

because a small but significant amount of  power is “lost in translation.” Though,  

09:01

statistically speaking, you’re already spending  most of your power on heating your home,  

09:05

so saving and later using that energy as  heat really isn’t a problem. This means  

09:09

that TES devices work well in tandem with other  energy storage ones, like the Tesla Powerwall.  

09:14

Letting the TES handle the lion’s share of the  work in heating allows the chemical battery to  

09:18

handle other electrical applications. It’s  using the right tool for the right job.

09:22

However, every time energy is converted from  one form to another, there are energy losses.  

09:27

TESs have remarkable efficiency when their  stored power is used for heating. But their  

09:31

efficiency drops to a much less exciting 50–70%  when they’ve got to convert that heat back into  

09:36

electricity. Compare this to 90% for lithium-ion  batteries or even 70–85% for pumped hydro,  

09:42

and you can see why adoption has been slow.  That makes them less versatile than something  

09:46

like a residential chemical battery system, and  if you’re only able to afford one energy storage  

09:50

device, you’re probably going for the more  versatile and available piece of technology.

09:55

Speaking of affordability, that’s also a major  factor. The relatively small and cheap NEStore  

09:59

has a €5,000 to €6000 price tag, which is about  $5300 to $6400, depending on size. Those figures  

10:07

do include installation, though I worry those  numbers will go up once it leaves the preorder  

10:11

stage. Batsand’s smaller 14kW system will  run you a very reasonable €7,200 or about  

10:17

$7,700. But with installation it balloons to  a hefty €17,000 or $19,000 on the low end.

10:25

That kind of price point means these devices  aren’t going to fit into a lot of budgets.  

10:29

However, these high prices do buy you some  impressive RTEs. When I asked NEStore about  

10:34

theirs over email, a business development  representative said it had an RTE of 95%.  

10:39

Similarly, Andre Raimundo, the head of operations  at Batsand, told me over email that generally they  

10:44

store energy at a 92% efficiency, and use that  stored energy at a 94% efficiency rate. Granted,  

10:50

these are likely “best-case scenario” figures, but  they’re still very exciting. Even with this kind  

10:55

of performance, it’s challenging to get homeowners  to spend luxury prices on these kinds of things  

10:59

unless they’re really into energy independence  or greentech…like someone you might know.

11:04

For these reasons, thermal batteries have  been a niche technology for much of their  

11:08

200-year existence. Demand really only  started to blossom alongside renewables,  

11:12

partly because TES devices are only as green as  the energy we put into them. Take water heaters,  

11:18

for example. As recently as 2010, a typical  resistance electric water heater produced  

11:23

four times more emissions than gas water  heaters. How? Well, it takes a lot of  

11:28

energy to heat that kind of thing, and that  energy was mostly coming from fossil fuels.

11:32

But now, with green energy being more  abundant, and the problem shifting from  

11:36

generation to storage, electric resistance water  heaters (and by extension thermal batteries) are  

11:41

looking better and better. According to Sydney's  University of Technology, by 2030 resistance  

11:46

electric heaters will be radically more energy  and emissions efficient than gas heaters. Heat  

11:51

pump water heaters already are, and I’ve got  a video that goes into my experience with one.

11:55

And speaking of heat pumps, it’s looking likely  that TES devices could follow a similar path. I  

12:00

hope they do, considering how they could work with  the rest of your home energy system. Think about  

12:04

it: Your solar panels gather energy for your  house, including your heat pump and TES. Those  

12:08

devices will keep your home at a cozy temperature  all day. With the massive burden of heating taken  

12:13

off on your battery system’s plate, it has more  juice to spend on all your other electrical needs.  

12:18

The synergies at play here are just so cool.  What’s not love? Well, the cost of purchasing  

12:23

and installing solar panels, a heat pump, battery  system, and a TES. But we’re working on that.

12:29

Here in the US, TESs are more affordable  than ever thanks to the Inflation Reduction  

12:32

Act (IRA). That’s because many of the IRA  battery storage provisions also apply to  

12:36

TES units. That means you can get a whopping  30% tax credit on your TES device. This jumps  

12:42

to a 40% tax credit for projects made with  domestic materials. That should go a long  

12:47

way toward making them more affordable for  the average household. With incentives like  

12:50

this on the table, I think we’ll see an  expansion in domestic TES innovation and  

12:54

manufacture — and competition should help make  thermal batteries more affordable over time.

12:59

So where does this leave us? I really  do think we’re at the dawn of a new age  

13:02

here. Thermal energy batteries are just  starting to break into the residential  

13:05

market. When we circle back to  this topic in a couple of years,  

13:08

I won’t be surprised at all if there’s  a lot more companies on the scene.

13:12

But what do you think? Do you want  thermal energy storage for your  

13:14

home? Jump into the comments and let  me know. I’ll see you in the next one.

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