Electricity storage/delivery system

[bobbobwhite]

Inefficient electricity storage devices have been with us for well over 100 years and we still have not developed a sytem that will absorb, hold and deliver on-demand massive amounts at mega/gigawatt levels. What is/are the main obstacle(s) to the development of a workable and efficient system for commercial and industrial, as well as household, electricity storage and on-demand delivery beyond the simple variations of the inefficient storage batteries we have been using for all those years?

Should I also ask the Physics board? Thanks for all informed answers.

[light_bulb]

wind, sun, waves and the earths magnetic field as future energy is what i think will happen. pop science now but eventually it will work out, instead of trying to store it with batterys maybe a switching network, you can take as much energy as you need.

i'd guess the goal should be to minimize energy loss during conversion, if done right it should curb lots of the electo-chem/petrol buyproduct and landfill crap. instead of planning for the next 100 years maybe the next 500 instead. if i can buy a styrafoam cup that won't breakdown for 50 years then this should be easy right?

edit: like powering your watch via static electricity when your walking across a carpet, the sources won't change but how people use them will.

[sunday]

Have a look to http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~matti/ise2grp/energystorage_report/storage.html

The most used energy storage today is pumped hydroelectric.

[russ_watters]

Actually, batteries are very efficient. Upwards of 90%. the main problem with batteries is that they are bulky and expensive.

Pumped-hydroelectric isn't every efficient, but because of the the variable nature of energy consumption, it often makes good economic sense.

[sunday]

Agree, isn't very efficient, yes, but base power is usually cheaper than peak power, so you can accept some inefficiencies.

And batteries aren't gigawat-class storage devices.

Regards.

[es1]

A battery is not a gigawat-class storage device, but batteries might be. :)