Although lithium batteries have many advantages, they also have many disadvantages. Among them include:
* fire / explosion hazard
* expensive
* contain toxic heavy metals
* limited number of discharge cycles
However, there are other battery technologies that don't have these downsides. One of them is iron flow batteries.
Iron flow batteries have the following advantages:
* composed of non-hazardous iron, salt water, and a membrane.
* can be built with commodity, off the shelf components.
* 4+ hours of storage time
* entirely recyclable
* no fire hazard / explosion risk
The main downsides of iron-flow batteries are:
* new technology, so not as proven as other technologies
* large size (due to low energy density)
* weight
For seasteading purposes however, weight isn't necessarily a disadvantage, as the battery can serve a dual purpose as ballast for the ship.
And size is not as much as an issue, as there is vast amount of space on the ocean. Although they would require a bigger hull, hulls only contribute about 30% of the cost of a fully fitted out ship.
Although not widely used yet, they have been built and tested in real operating environments (such as military bases):
https://www.essinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/The-Life-and-Death-Value-of-Energy-Storage-in-Military-Microgrids.pdf
ESS, Inc seems to be one of the main companies pushing the technology:
https://www.essinc.com/energy-storage-products/
The CEO of ESS gives a presentation on the topic here:
#battery
#permaculture
#seasteading
* fire / explosion hazard
* expensive
* contain toxic heavy metals
* limited number of discharge cycles
However, there are other battery technologies that don't have these downsides. One of them is iron flow batteries.
Iron flow batteries have the following advantages:
* composed of non-hazardous iron, salt water, and a membrane.
* can be built with commodity, off the shelf components.
* 4+ hours of storage time
* entirely recyclable
* no fire hazard / explosion risk
The main downsides of iron-flow batteries are:
* new technology, so not as proven as other technologies
* large size (due to low energy density)
* weight
For seasteading purposes however, weight isn't necessarily a disadvantage, as the battery can serve a dual purpose as ballast for the ship.
And size is not as much as an issue, as there is vast amount of space on the ocean. Although they would require a bigger hull, hulls only contribute about 30% of the cost of a fully fitted out ship.
Although not widely used yet, they have been built and tested in real operating environments (such as military bases):
https://www.essinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/The-Life-and-Death-Value-of-Energy-Storage-in-Military-Microgrids.pdf
ESS, Inc seems to be one of the main companies pushing the technology:
https://www.essinc.com/energy-storage-products/
The CEO of ESS gives a presentation on the topic here:
▶ Watch on YouTube
#battery
#permaculture
#seasteading