The Battery Decade,improving Your Life Every Day

The Battery Decade, improving your life every day by changing every thing you do and helping global warming, or does it really

How would a simple battery affect your life?

I started thinking about this when a couple of old guys were talking about their latest purchase.
They had both bought a battery powered chain saw and were really in love with it. We can scavenge firewood and no one can hear us or cut branches of the neighbours tree without alerting the whole street. These are a thing of beauty with two batteries and only cost a few thousand dollars.

A few years ago my friend bought one of the first stick vacuum cleaners from a well known brand. Actually the only one at the time because they had a patent on the technology. I borrowed the vac to try it out and ran out of battery half way through the house. Not a problem to have to put it on charge for a couple of hours so I could finish the job.

It worked OK however the whole idea was tarnished by the battery life, it sucked.

Now I have bought a new version that does the house two or three times before I swap batteries and continue on with the cleaning. A couple of years made a big difference.

Lithium made the difference but so did technology

Batteries were enhanced to run laptop computers and iPads with easy charging and a reasonable life.
Along came Elon Musk and he decided to put a computer battery into a car and create a full electric vehicle.
Ambitious is an understatement because by tying them all together you created heat and a potential fire hazard.

The short version of the story was a partnership with Panasonic and Tesla to develop an energy source that could be easily cooled and have a reasonable charge.

Thus the Tesla EV was born and the company went to market way back in 2010.
Auto makers said at the time that EV was not a product for the future and that they were better not going forward. They also speculated that Tesla would go broke and they almost did.

Move on 10 years

Skip forward 10 years and Tesla is the richest company on the market and every car manufacturer in the world is producing some form of EV.

The greenhouse effect or global warming was recognised by parts of the economy and battery expansion went even further.
Musk built a 100 megawatt battery in South Australia to support grid balance back in 1997. This was a high risk gamble when Musk said he would build it in 100 days or there would be no charge. At the time this was the biggest installation of its kind.

Two years after Tesla Inc. installed it, the world’s biggest lithium-ion battery is helping to avert blackouts and lower costs as Australian grids struggle to handle surging renewable power generation.
Bloomberg

Hey guys that is just a few years back now similar operations, only much larger are being done or competed across America, in New South Wales Australia, Chile, Lithuania and London.

California 2020-21

Inside a cavernous turbine building, a 300-megawatt lithium-ion battery is currently being prepared for operation, with another 100-megawatt battery to come online in 2021.

Here in Australia we will not be out done

Origin Energy has unveiled plans to build a giant 700-megawatt capacity battery at its coal-fired power plant in Eraring, south of Newcastle, in the New South Wales Hunter region.
ABC News services

That's a seven times increase in size over just three years. Where to next?

Have a look around you

I just did a quick count around me.

Battery operated items everywhere. I mentioned the Bosch vacuum cleaner that I really like and my garden blower. Battery of course.
Mobile phones, Laptops, a couple of iPads, torches and a clock. Cars won't go anywhere without a battery, my earbuds, radio and probably more. A dozen garden lights that charge every day.

The increase in technology is allowing a greater ability to move forward.

Using Solar to compliment the batteries

Solar has been around for awhile.

2005: DIY Solar Panels Become Popular

As technology and efficiency of solar cells have increased, residential solar power has become more popular. DIY solar panels started hitting the market in 2005 and have become more prevalent with each new year.

Solar power authority

Home batteries have been around for years, or have they?

The Tesla Power wall was introduced only 5 years ago and is now sold in just about every country in the world.

A year ago, Elon Musk unveiled the Powerwall, the residential storage battery he predicted could someday shrink the world's carbon footprint. The first step, installing them in homes, is finally here .
Dana Hull MAY 04, 2016

Here in Australia, where the sun shines often, solar and batteries is an everyday product.
New home builders will soon be installing them as part of the building package as we move into the new era of power.
The battery decade brings many advantages

However it is not all sunshine and roses

The local power supply is responsible for charging most of our battery devises. Fossil fuels are still the main power sources despite a great level of technology being introduced.
A lot of wind power is being used with some hydro activity however the power is still dominated by coal fired stations. Another decade will make a big difference.

A good example is South Australia; they suffered from massive power failures due to an unstable system. They set out to cahnge this and now,

South Australia's electricity generation is now over 60% renewable. Because the state's hydroelectricity is piddly, that's basically all wind and solar power. This is three times the amount many insisted — without real justification — was an absolute limit just a few years ago.
Solar rnterprise

This is despite the rest of Australia living on over 75% Fossil energy

So the problem is that all batteries rely on power to charge them ( except disposable ones) therefore the explosion in battery technology requires similar advances in power technologies.

The Battery Decade and Global warming .

Global Warming is the Issue

It is now generally accepted that global warming is a real problem and the problem is caused by green house gasses. Despite a massive negative push in this area every major country is now taking steps to eliminate global warming.
The following provides:

Emissions from power generation account for 30% of global green house gases.
Transportation adds a further 16%
Manufacturing comes in at 12%
Interestingly agriculture and live stock 11%
Other burning of fuels about 6% and the balance Includes Industrial processing.
Dr Karl K.

Therefore batteries are part of the everyday problems.

The battery decade and Greenhouse gas

What are we doing about this Greenhouse issue

Lots actually however not nearly enough.

While the major sources of power come from coal, oil and gas little will change. They are trying to clean up these sources in very interesting ways however it must change in radical way to be different.

Hydrogen is now the scene stealer because of its extremely low emissions, hydrogen for the transport industry, green hydrogen for steel processing and manufacturing are a couple of ways forward.
But wait for it, one way hydrogen is created is from water and electricity. To overcome the power component massive solar farms and wind generators are used to create a green power.
Here batteries again are used to condition the power and have it changed by inverters from DC power to AC electrical input. Well that's a simple version for this exercise.

My point: battery technology without clean power is a problem not being solved

Let's face it the use of batteries is escalating so fast that they are creating a problem of their own. Massive battery charging stations are being installed across the US and most other countries to run battery powered vehicles. In five years time over 60% of all cars will be battery powered. In Fact Tesla is 100% and Volvo will make no more petrol or diesel cars after 2025. Many models are coming out as hybrid vehicles and every major manufacturer is producing a battery powered car.
Yes the cars are producing little pollution and this will be a huge help but fossil fuel power generation is growing and not declining. How to solve the issues

The Battery Decade and your Government

Your governments make money from the fuel industry

Now there lies a problem in itself. However we have seen that the Tobacco industry that supplied a massive income stream from taxing can be reduced without crippling the economy. The alcohol industry is the same however constraints have not been as spectacular.

Added to this is a mentality to foster the old ways because it will affect the economy. A recent example was a state that wants to tax solar panel users because they are not contributing to the network. In fact you have to pay the network a monthly fee if you use it or not.

Batteries are here to stay so we need to change the power

The growth in battery technology has been massive over just a few short years and the achievements beyond even the best estimates. Look at the toolmaker Ryobi that has a battery for every devise they sell.

Cars that will do near a 1000 Klms on a single charge.

A city that can run for several hours on battery power alone is here and now.

The small solar cell can run a street light battery from dark to dawn.
Plus lots more in the Battery Decade

My fast charge conclusion

I have missed out that fast charging of batteries is now taken for granted. We demand action and we are getting it now fast charged.

The battery growth has been an amazing venture and this generally came about because of lithium structure, a new way of doing things. Companies all over the world are now focused on batteries and we have to thank Tesla for pushing the boundaries and dragging companies like Samsung and Panasonic with them. They required power so they fast tracked technology and it is not going to stop.

But a short couple of years back hydrogen as a fuel source was a pipe dream but that has changed and the next few years will see a massive impact with clean energy .

We are living in a great time if only we could control COVID -19