Donald Sadoway: The missing link to renewable energy

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  • čas přidán 25. 03. 2012
  • www.ted.com What's the key to using alternative energy, like solar and wind? Storage -- so we can have power on tap even when the sun's not out and the wind's not blowing. In this accessible, inspiring talk, Donald Sadoway takes to the blackboard to show us the future of large-scale batteries that store renewable energy. As he says: "We need to think about the problem differently. We need to think big. We need to think cheap."
    TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at www.ted.com/translate
    If you have questions or comments about this or other TED videos, please go to support.ted.com
  • Věda a technologie

Komentáře • 1,4K

  • @Deqster
    @Deqster Před 4 lety +165

    This Ted talk needs a "where are they now" episode

    • @dianewallace6064
      @dianewallace6064 Před 4 lety +3

      So true!!!

    • @globalmuffin2
      @globalmuffin2 Před 4 lety

      lmao :)))

    • @gerrymcguire2648
      @gerrymcguire2648 Před 4 lety +9

      Right here. www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190923005201/en/%C2%A0NEC-Develop-Energy-Storage-Systems-Cells-Ambri

    • @rhelmcintyre5344
      @rhelmcintyre5344 Před 4 lety +2

      Yes, where are they? I only stumbled onto this today. Everyone going on about Wind farms and other renewables and no mention of this. Certainly a worthwhile alternative to others being spruiked.

    • @rhelmcintyre5344
      @rhelmcintyre5344 Před 4 lety

      @@gerrymcguire2648 Thanks Gerry

  • @rebeccasabino6897
    @rebeccasabino6897 Před 3 lety +3

    the audience should have laughed more when he was naming the parts like why did it fit so perfectly!

  • @makesolarpanelstored
    @makesolarpanelstored Před 9 lety +2

    thank you very much for explaining it well.... learning more about renewable is amazing..

  • @aldoileanumeliber
    @aldoileanumeliber Před 2 lety +1

    I could listen to this man for days. Wonderful way of speaking and presenting the matter.

  • @bitelogger
    @bitelogger Před 4 lety +3

    This guy fire me like a star, has passion, determination, knowledge man we need More people like him to improve the world!!!

  • @meagain2222
    @meagain2222 Před 5 lety +3

    A forty foot shipping container for every 200 homes sounds super expensive.Antimony is
    almost run out of supply.And all those batteries in a container would melt them selves.
    My favorite is pumped water storage.This is cheap efficient and can match loads easily.
    Capital cost is high but operating costs are very very low.

    • @lordfnord5768
      @lordfnord5768 Před 5 lety

      Nothing is "almost run out of supply." Do you know how much seawater there is in the world. Me neither, but lots.
      Use of the word "shortage" without a price should be a Federal felony.

  • @yeetirosina
    @yeetirosina Před 3 lety

    I came here from school. There was a newspaper assignment where we were supposed to read an article about better batteries. We were supposed to find the main ideas. I saw it say something about Don Sadoway having a few TED Talks. I recently watched some TED Talks, so I knew I should come here.

  • @OhManTFE
    @OhManTFE Před 12 lety +1

    Wow, this was a fantastic talk. Innovative, informative, and humorous.

  • @duncanwallace7760
    @duncanwallace7760 Před 9 lety +8

    What a great approach to one of the major issues the world faces today. It certainly sounds like a battery like no other. Presumably these batteries would be industrial rather than the sort you might have in your home, given the high temperatures needed, but maybe they could be part of new home designs somehow. Look forward to hearing how they develop!

    • @vincentrobinette1507
      @vincentrobinette1507 Před 5 lety

      You're right. These are specifically targeting grid scale electrical energy storage. They may not be practical for home rooftop solar, and definitely not for electric vehicles. think of this in the same category as redox flow batteries.

    • @michaeledwards2251
      @michaeledwards2251 Před rokem +1

      Articulated lorries and heavy vehicles are potential candidates: they would withstand the very high cycling rates needed.

  • @MmmCouchPotato
    @MmmCouchPotato Před 12 lety +6

    "And the way he structured this presentation!"
    Honestly curious, how did he structure it?

  • @236Mars
    @236Mars Před 5 lety +1

    Great job Professor. I think you and your team will crack this soon...

  • @adracamas
    @adracamas Před 12 lety

    This is a spectacular step in the right direction. Interested in what temperatures they operate at.

  • @duniayangbaru
    @duniayangbaru Před 9 lety +5

    Science as that simple.! All brother and sister around the world, welcome to a new era of renewable energy.

  • @bjorndyno2175
    @bjorndyno2175 Před 4 lety +26

    We are now in the last quarter of 2019. Where are the batteries???

    • @garybrown9719
      @garybrown9719 Před 4 lety

      Tied up

    • @blahdelablah
      @blahdelablah Před 4 lety +3

      Ambri partnered with NEC in September 2019 to start producing their batteries at higher scale. Technologies like this take a long time to come to the market, but I'm seeing this deal as a positive sign that they're still on the right track.

    • @yabincheng4171
      @yabincheng4171 Před 2 měsíci

      the battery is mainly for industry use due to the high temperature requirement. Its advantage over lithium battery is on number of life cycle health retenation, and larger power.

  • @TheLivirus
    @TheLivirus Před 12 lety +2

    Wow, this guy is damn proud of his invention. He should be! Thank you Donald Sadoway and involved students for making our future look a bit brighter! :)

  • @guaredo
    @guaredo Před 12 lety

    Nice :) Well done, Students and teacher to the power XD
    I hope universities come up with programs like this with a clear leader and a clear goal
    would make the world a favor

  • @rob87raine
    @rob87raine Před 9 lety +23

    This talk is full of optimism and promise, the kind of thing you need to keep attracting research funding. Of course you try to use cheap materials, that's nothing new that's just how to maximize profits! Prof Sadoway makes it sound like it's problem solved here and that they have found the perfect battery chemistry but magnesium-antimony isn't cheap. Actually, a year later they publish a research paper saying that further research is needed both to overcome "enormous challenges" in this becoming economic, and also to explore "rich , new battery chemistries". Don't get me wrong, I wish him the best of luck but there is a race on for energy storage technologies, and it seems that thermal energy storage has many advantages over batteries: for example, allowing offices to run electric chillers at night to produce ice and move their electricity demand for cooling away from peak times. There are also power generators that can switch the balance between heat and power production at short notice without compromising efficiency in order to help balance intermittency through storing hot water in heat networks in countries that have them like Denmark.

    • @drury2d8
      @drury2d8 Před 6 lety

      Three years on, couldnt agree more.

    • @voxelmaniam
      @voxelmaniam Před 5 lety

      Nuks are a good example of where your hypothesis fails. They went from non-existent to disrupting in 4 years.

    • @JodBronson
      @JodBronson Před 5 lety

      OK, this was in 2012. I just saw an Video and he updated that it will be on the Market in about 3 Years.... 2012+2018+3= 9 Years.... So it's 6+ Years so far.... We have to wait 3 more years! :((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Here is the Video: czcams.com/video/ImqmMOkANgg/video.html

    • @vincentrobinette1507
      @vincentrobinette1507 Před 5 lety

      Magnesium seems pretty readily available, but what about Antimony? In deep cycle lead acid batteries, antimony is used as an alloy in the grids of the plates. Only about 5%. that amounts to about 2% of the overall materials in a finished lead acid battery. This battery uses 100 percent antimony as one of its electrodes. That's a lot!

  • @Fusselwurmify
    @Fusselwurmify Před 12 lety +7

    Asking the big G for "liquid metal battery" showed me this: (wikipedia) Sodium-sulfur batteries.
    with ~160MW installed on wind farms inJapan

  • @archaedemos
    @archaedemos Před 11 lety

    Just watched you on Colbert!! and also watched some MIT vids in the past ,Big fan!, You are a very smart man! great upload!

  • @yourstudio
    @yourstudio Před 12 lety

    rock on Prof D! dont want to sound too much like a hippie but felt a good energy vibe from this talk.. Peace and love to you and your inventors.. swag that full spectrum amigo - your fan -surge

  • @royanaderi7340
    @royanaderi7340 Před 4 lety +5

    Lets "Invent" our way out the old-fashioned American way. I love his practical and analytical mind process.

  • @NathansHVAC
    @NathansHVAC Před 9 lety +51

    I'm no expert on this, but I would guess some of the complexities are: 1) Molten salt is highly corrosive. The correct stainless alloy needs to be selected and tested for the container. 2) How do you handle thermal expansion/contraction? You can't exactly have air bubbles in there. 3) One of the toughest engineering challenges for any design is low price. You can't throw a bunch of exotic nickle based metals at this problem for the container. 4) How do you re-heat to a molten state?
    This is why no one thought of it before. At first glimps, the problem looks very hard and expensive to solve. Also, size matters very much. Heat content is a product of volume which is a cubic exponent. Cooling is a product of area, which is a square. The volume needs to be sufficiently large so that the heat loss thru the case is minimal compared to power. This is why the ocean takes millions of years to change temperature compared to a glass of water. You are never going to see liquid metal AA cells. They would cool down in seconds.

    • @jimstand
      @jimstand Před 8 lety +6

      NathansHVAC Your thoughts show a level of understanding that the man in the street does not have.

    • @dranin09
      @dranin09 Před 8 lety +8

      +NathansHVAC 1) Use layers of ceramic that is naturally non-reactive to corrosive materials, outside layers can be stainless alloy 2) Because the battery runs at 700 degrees the expansion and contraction is limited 3) ceramics and the materials used in the battery are abundant and relatively cheap (at this industry scale, when compared to conventional techniques) 4) the process is reversed

    • @yahyakhan9745
      @yahyakhan9745 Před 6 lety +4

      Bottom line:
      The reduced operating temperature (and hence, cost) simplifies the design and extends the battery’s working life, without compromising its desirable performance characteristics. The antimony produces a high operating voltage, and the system returns about 70 percent of the power that’s put into it. Also, testing has shown that after a decade of daily charging and discharging, the system should retain 85 percent of its initial efficiency.
      Sadoway tells Nature that a large-scale, molten-metal unit might cost around $500 per kilowatt-hour of electricity produced. “Now we understand that liquid metals bond in ways that we didn’t understand before,” he adds in a news release. The team is looking into other metal combinations that might provide even lower-temperature, lower-cost, and higher-performance systems.

    • @mikehillsgrove1612
      @mikehillsgrove1612 Před 6 lety +5

      No stainless is involved. Ceramics are require for the casings. Expansion is calculated and sufficient room left at the top
      Heating to temperature requires the input of electricity during the 2 phase charging process.

    • @Dr_Xyzt
      @Dr_Xyzt Před 6 lety +1

      How do you feel about using concentrated solar light to make chemical fuel?
      That's what I'm studying, and it seems like a really practical solution for our farm equipment and trucks.

  • @TheseEyesGod
    @TheseEyesGod Před 12 lety

    Awesome! Totally. So be it. And may it be a template, a blueprint for future development in all fields.

  • @kirillkorsunenko
    @kirillkorsunenko Před 12 lety +1

    Great teacher!

  • @MatthewGraham027
    @MatthewGraham027 Před 9 lety +4

    One of the most important issues today. I hope you succeed Dr. Sadoway.

    • @jimstand
      @jimstand Před 7 lety +2

      HE IS SUCCEEDING. He is getting very rich!

  • @jimstandish9103
    @jimstandish9103 Před 9 lety +304

    This video is 2.5 years old. Where are the batteries??????

    • @najibyarzerachic
      @najibyarzerachic Před 9 lety +15

      it is here www.iflscience.com/technology/new-liquid-metal-battery-will-make-renewables-competitive

    • @bugs181
      @bugs181 Před 9 lety +35

      Most technology take on average 5 to 10 years to even become public consumer products from development. I feel that the rising energy needs have expedited this process. Only 2.5 years in and they have already released their findings to the public. Pretty good if you ask me. Where this technology will really shine is high energy demands for things like solar, wind, or other renewable energies for homes and big businesses. This technology won't have much use in mobile fields.

    • @Bloated_Tony_Danza
      @Bloated_Tony_Danza Před 9 lety +2

      bugs181 Cars didnt, after people saw (and heard) automobiles for the first time, everyone wanted one and it just took off ever scince. Cars back then were dangerous, slow and clumsy. Eventually they even had lead in the fuel and people STILL paid for them.

    • @bugs181
      @bugs181 Před 9 lety +10

      Ilir Kumi Actually, it's not well known that the first automobiles were invented far before they become popularized. The first propelled steam automobile was invented in the 1700's.
      It's true that cars back then were dangerous, however that still holds true today. Fun Fact: You're far more likely to get into an automobile accident than in any other mode of transportation, including walking through a high crime neighborhood.
      My point was also not directed to any one technology specifically. That's generally how long it takes for technology to go from the lab to becoming consumer products. Some more, some less.

    • @santiagoval9899
      @santiagoval9899 Před 9 lety +5

      according to Ambri's website, they are testing some batteries in 2015 and, if everything works fine, expect to have a commercial "for all" product by 2016

  • @pfscanna
    @pfscanna Před 12 lety

    great story, presentation and inventions

  • @ik04
    @ik04 Před 12 lety

    This is how all TED talks should be! Chalkboards and hard science rather than fruity ideas and bogus emotional pleas... Verbally documenting an actual scientific experiment is much more entertaining than listening to mere words. Adding a great speaker is icing on the cake!

  • @CK-fq9lk
    @CK-fq9lk Před 10 lety +8

    Hahaha you gotta love his sense of humor 😂😂

  • @stevenator0281
    @stevenator0281 Před 8 lety +5

    This guy rules!

  • @ThePintoAce
    @ThePintoAce Před 12 lety +2

    Its pretty crazy how much technology has changed things. Aluminum being as precious as silver is a huge understatement. At one point it was even more valuable than gold.

  • @viktorpetrovart
    @viktorpetrovart Před 12 lety

    I'm glad to be living alongside such remarkable people.

  • @yesanything4668
    @yesanything4668 Před 7 lety +34

    Next step: capture lightning and store it!

    • @lightshipchief
      @lightshipchief Před 4 lety +3

      I have a can of light. Every time I look in the can it is still there.

    • @pip0109
      @pip0109 Před 4 lety

      aka Black Magic

  • @AjayTiwari-rw9nm
    @AjayTiwari-rw9nm Před 4 lety +27

    More than 7 years now.What happened to these batteries?

    • @Zajebancije
      @Zajebancije Před 4 lety +3

      He keeps saying "i made...., I made,...." so, where is this battery YOU made?

    • @blahdelablah
      @blahdelablah Před 4 lety +4

      Search online for Ambri. The technology is still being developed.

    • @glasslinger
      @glasslinger Před 4 lety +1

      Ajay:
      Taxpayer subsidies disappeared when the TRUE cost of the system became known!

  • @andrewheffel928
    @andrewheffel928 Před 4 lety +2

    I Googled it, the liquid metal battery company's name is Ambri, and they are still developing their batteries. They had a serious problem with the high temperature battery seals and have had to invent a new chemistry for their batteries. The new chemistry is less expensive than the old one, and they project the cost of a commercial battery facility using their process will cost five times less than a lithium ion battery facility of the same size. They hope to have a working unit in 2020. They are still alive.

  • @BeachedWhale129
    @BeachedWhale129 Před 11 lety

    Wow. Impressive plan, good luck! I know a lady who lives off grid, but I have no idea how she stores the energy from her solar panels.

  • @VIIflegias
    @VIIflegias Před 8 lety +5

    12:29 ok, let's see: 16 inches, meaning 4 dm. volume of device: 2^2*3.14= 12 dm^2. the height seem to be slightly more than half the radius, like 1.2-1.3 dm, so volume=15 dm^3 more or less, or 15L. meaning that the Volumetric energy density is 1000Wh / 15L = 67 Wh/L. for a lithium-ion battery it would be 250 to 620 Wh/L so best case scenario it's 4 times less energy packed (per unit volume). not the greatest but if it's scalable and versatile enough it doesn't really matter. we have twice as much anthimony as we have lithium, so that's something.
    i'd like to know how reversible it is though, and how difficult it is to keep the phases separated, not to mention charge loss at rest (self discharge), i can't imagine this construct being too good at actually storing energy for long periods of time.

    • @musaran2
      @musaran2 Před 5 lety

      Energy density does not matter much for stationary batteries. Price is where it's at.

    • @vincentrobinette1507
      @vincentrobinette1507 Před 5 lety

      The question is how many kWh per Kg can this store, compared to lithium? This might need many more times the antimony to store a unit of energy than lithium. I don't have the numbers. but that doesn't matter. As much energy storage as we need as a nation, NO technology is off the table. Think terawatt hours. I don't think there's enough of any resource, for any one technology to meet the demand by itself. We need everything we can get our hands on!

  • @MohamedAnsari_H
    @MohamedAnsari_H Před 3 lety +35

    Thumbs up if you came here after watching Real Engineering.

  • @SenorSimas
    @SenorSimas Před 12 lety

    Interesting, I will look into this.

  • @kokopelli314
    @kokopelli314 Před 12 lety

    These molten salt batteries have been around for a while. Some may remember experimental EV's with the ZEBRA battery, that used nickel and molten sodium aluminum chloride.
    Sill though, someone had to take the first step towards developing inexpensive storage, tailored for the grid. Lots of technical hurtles. I congratulate the whole team!

  • @coal2710
    @coal2710 Před 6 lety +5

    "The electricity powering the lights in this theater was generated moments ago."
    Electricity is a type of energy and most of the electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels. They release chemical energy and in power plants we first transform it to mechanical, then with generators to electricity. Most of the power plants don't store energy. They send along transmission lines as it is generated, but is not stored. That's why he is right.

    • @vincentrobinette1507
      @vincentrobinette1507 Před 5 lety

      correction: a moment ago. Electricity travels quite quickly. Moments, in this context, are measured in micro seconds!

  • @kk1993kk
    @kk1993kk Před 9 lety +18

    The video is quite old. Would love to see the product being used in real life. Where is it?

    • @jimstand
      @jimstand Před 9 lety +6

      Kristiāns Karlsons It doesn't exist and won't come out as a product. Colleges use scams like this to get funding. 99% of funding goes down the drain.

    • @McMurchie
      @McMurchie Před 9 lety +4

      jimstand Does kind of come across that way, a bit too much theatrics.

    • @jimstand
      @jimstand Před 8 lety +3

      Adam -亚当- It is ALL theatrics. There is nothing even close to a product. It is all about getting more money to do the "research".

    • @McMurchie
      @McMurchie Před 8 lety +2

      jimstand Yea its a sad state of affairs that they have to resort to theatrics and deception to get cash for 'science'

    • @sqeye
      @sqeye Před 8 lety +6

      Kristiāns Karlsons notice how everything is "I" this "I" that. Not my team. Not our industry.

  • @bearcat648
    @bearcat648 Před 12 lety

    Wonderful talk, and a wonderful invention!

    • @jimstand
      @jimstand Před 2 lety

      And nothing to show for it.

  • @ristekostadinov2820
    @ristekostadinov2820 Před 3 lety +1

    Im happy that he never give up even 8 years after this TED talk. I hope the project with TerraScale will be succssesful.

    • @jimstand
      @jimstand Před 3 lety

      He didn't give up because he is still making money from this.

    • @makara2711
      @makara2711 Před 3 lety

      watch his lectures at MIT about solid state chemistry, they're gold

  • @lepantzeus1
    @lepantzeus1 Před 8 lety +6

    Rather than trying to store electricity, we should store water. A water reservoir can store water either from natural water flows or pumped up a grade and then release the water when energy when needed.

    • @424io
      @424io Před 8 lety

      small town prerequisite: dig a hole large enough for to be filled with rain showers, then and only then may this town be acknowledged Into the state.

    • @424io
      @424io Před 8 lety

      : Inventor of AC. A man 90% responsible for our way of life. The person that could have but is still somehow propelling us into the future, exponential bounds at a time.

    • @revan6614
      @revan6614 Před 8 lety

      +lepantzeus1 Hydroelectric power is extremely inefficient and takes up such a massive amount of space to produce such a low energy output.

    • @lepantzeus1
      @lepantzeus1 Před 8 lety +1

      +Ryan Kenway True, but hydroelectric reservoirs also provide reliable water supplies for homes, businesses, manufacturing and agriculture as well as recreation, in addition to reliable electrical power.
      The fundamental problem with solar and wind energy is that they aren't reliable. Solar can't work at night. Wind can't work on a still day. Hydroelectric provides both water and power, reliably. If you want biofuel crops, reliable water supplies are critical. ;-)

  • @andraslibal
    @andraslibal Před 5 lety +7

    The problems with the batteries is the same as with solar and wind: energy density.

    • @hariseldon3786
      @hariseldon3786 Před 4 lety

      reneweconomy.com.au/tesla-big-battery-in-south-australia-is-about-to-get-bigger-54935/

    • @haliax8149
      @haliax8149 Před 4 lety

      @@hariseldon3786 You've pointed to a horribly inefficient and expensive installation.

    • @garybarbourii8274
      @garybarbourii8274 Před 4 lety

      That's only a problem for mobile applications. The power grid does everything big, so a battery the size of a shipping container is no issue at all, if it works

  • @Viracocha711
    @Viracocha711 Před 12 lety

    This was not a formal speech at a scientific convention this was a speech to the general public...BIG DIFFERENCE! This was a spectacular TED Talk as far as TED Talks go & that is why it has overwhelming praise! Having said that, your comment suggest you did not listen in terms of whether this is a reality he showed in great detail what he has already achieved & where he intends to go...Watch the talk again all the way to the end.

  • @NattaponPanrob
    @NattaponPanrob Před 12 lety

    Thank you.

  • @adsensedd
    @adsensedd Před 5 lety +75

    2019, still no batteries. There are clearly issues with his theoretical batteries.

    • @r.m8146
      @r.m8146 Před 5 lety +3

      That's not how technology works paw, the research is still ongoing.

    • @mskogly
      @mskogly Před 5 lety +1

      How can they get grants if they actually deliver?

    • @DigitalAgeInstitute
      @DigitalAgeInstitute Před 4 lety

      @samdee pride What did this have to do with that the batteries are still not there?

    • @hariseldon3786
      @hariseldon3786 Před 4 lety

      Wrong - huge battery in South Australia supplied by Tesla. Works really well. reneweconomy.com.au/tesla-big-battery-in-south-australia-is-about-to-get-bigger-54935/

    • @georgebartholemew8444
      @georgebartholemew8444 Před 4 lety

      I never saw any research that didn't have "hiccups". We need to cooperate.

  • @jimstand
    @jimstand Před 9 lety +32

    It has been more than 3 years since this speech. We were supposed to have something in 2014. Nothing!!
    Maybe next year. Or the year after that, or the year after that, or the year..........

    • @yuvarajaas2531
      @yuvarajaas2531 Před 9 lety +1

      jimstand They are making progress. Refer to the link www.ambri.com/
      It may take quite some time to come into large scale commercial production.

    • @jimstand
      @jimstand Před 8 lety

      Yuvarajaa S When? When? This is nothing more than a money hole.

    • @littleheath1666
      @littleheath1666 Před 8 lety +1

      Tesla's batteries have arrived .

    • @jimstand
      @jimstand Před 8 lety +2

      Philip Hunter Calling something "Tesla's batteries" does not make them so.

    • @jimstand
      @jimstand Před 8 lety +3

      Thien Dinh Next year, it is always next year.

  • @tubeyoukonto
    @tubeyoukonto Před 12 lety

    you sir, are a hero
    if this gets real or not
    just because of your way of thinking

  • @paulbooth2608
    @paulbooth2608 Před 4 lety +1

    2020 .... So where are we with this? an up date Video would be well received Professor.

    • @soylentgreenb
      @soylentgreenb Před 3 lety

      Not really anywhere. As far as I can tell, despite a $50 million investment by Bill Gates and some others, they seem to have only a single order for a 250 MWh calcium-antimony system that they haven't delivered yet, plus a bunch of glossy PDFs on their homepage (ambri).

  • @idesofmarchUNIAEA
    @idesofmarchUNIAEA Před 4 lety +3

    6:26 I like your concept of liquid salt, however I would use a thorium molten salt reactor to produce electricity.
    Only because that, there would be byproducts, that would be more valuable.
    Molybdenum 99 for cancer therapies and cancer research, xenon for interstellar space travel, excess heat for water desalinization, etc.
    your plan produces none of these byproducts.
    Build a model, too many moving parts, in concept to production. The field application is brilliant. However, for mass consumption, mass generation is workable. In my model you just have thorium reactors on a grid, the grid sends power to where it is necessary. In your model mining, manufacturing, and distribution of your batteries is too many moving parts. Military and government applications, need your battery.

    • @willjones8591
      @willjones8591 Před 4 lety

      Awesome! Puzzling to me why nuclear power isn't more widely used.

  • @plazachiconcuac
    @plazachiconcuac Před 4 lety +4

    I am in 2020. Interesting. Is there an update on the matter?

  • @chuckkottke
    @chuckkottke Před 4 lety

    I am glad he is pursuing this pathway, for from many options the problem is solved.

  • @vascoribeiro69
    @vascoribeiro69 Před 5 lety

    That has been done in Portugal for more than 40 years. It is called gravitional potencial energy (GPE). In the hours when you have low consumption, at night and weekends, this energy is pumped upstream in a reservoir, to be used latter when needed. In first place was to be used by energy produced by thermal coal plants that could not be stopped, now it uses all the excess energy in the grid. This let us to have days only on renewable energy.

  • @brettb9194
    @brettb9194 Před 5 lety +7

    Seven years, no sign... if alt energy worked, it wouldn't be alt energy.

    • @MrSpiker26
      @MrSpiker26 Před 4 lety +1

      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium%E2%80%93sulfur_battery

  • @D3mi4n
    @D3mi4n Před 12 lety +52

    "we are going to invent it... the american way"
    5 seconds later
    "the battery was invented by an italian"

    • @jamesmorton7881
      @jamesmorton7881 Před 4 lety +4

      YOU know, outsource it. Learn Chinese, get a good job. DUMP TRUMP NOW.

    • @genelakenetau
      @genelakenetau Před 4 lety +3

      And made in China

    • @MrGonzonator
      @MrGonzonator Před 3 lety +1

      He's Canadian

    • @TheAwesomefunny
      @TheAwesomefunny Před 3 lety +3

      Lol isnt that the american way? Get the smartest people from all around the world and get them to build stuff as "American products"

    • @michaelgonzalez9058
      @michaelgonzalez9058 Před 2 lety +1

      Don sadaway teach us electronics addition &
      Division technology
      Simply multiplication

  • @GASmotorsports
    @GASmotorsports Před 11 lety

    As a substation electrician apprentice the heat these things generate makes me nervous as it pertains to maintenance. Wont this thing demand a hell of an inverter? if you put one of these in every wind and solar generation yard are you suggesting we produce the power in dc? What is the projected life of this battery?
    As a Conceptually this talk is on point but it leaves me with so many questions technically.

  • @heroncortizo1993
    @heroncortizo1993 Před 6 lety

    Now, I'm your fan professor!
    :-)

  • @valhala56
    @valhala56 Před 8 lety +11

    It's 2016, four years from the date of this video. So where are the liquid batteries?

    • @valhala56
      @valhala56 Před 8 lety

      +valhala56
      This guy reminds me of Howie Mandel. Also where is the battery he promised?

    • @derkukk
      @derkukk Před 8 lety

      +valhala56 Bad economy happened: fortune.com/2015/09/11/liquid-metal-battery-layoffs/

    • @_A_D_
      @_A_D_ Před 7 lety +2

      Bill Gates happened.

    • @cornstar1253
      @cornstar1253 Před 5 lety

      The men in black took them/sarc

    • @grendelum
      @grendelum Před 5 lety

      czcams.com/video/4OHstY_kKUY/video.html A different, but totally viable and consumer ready, liquid battery.

  • @aniksamiurrahman6365
    @aniksamiurrahman6365 Před 5 lety +14

    Wow! Professor Sadoway is a great motivational speaker! I bet he makes his students work to death(with passion) LOL!

    • @46monkeyes
      @46monkeyes Před 4 lety

      Anik Samiur Rahman
      Were you one of his students at MIT?

  • @jackliu6027
    @jackliu6027 Před 5 lety

    No commercial products after 7 years with such a straightforward and simple design? How many hours have your team been working?

  • @jeebz131
    @jeebz131 Před 12 lety

    Great vid! I want to work for him.

  • @drjukebox
    @drjukebox Před 5 lety +7

    There hasn't been any real breakthroughs in battery chemistry the last one hundred years. In packaging and manufacturing yes, but we still have only the same basic technology.
    This guys major talent is probably fund raising, going on for eight years now with no product. A lot of that going on in the battery business.

  • @twelvewingproductions7508

    Great closing line.
    Unfortunately these batteries didn't pan out.
    My guess is that there are too many differences between the way these batteries work and the way more standard solutions work.
    The biggest hole that I found in this is the idea that these batteries would be used for short term. Basically as a capacitor, it is used only for brief periods when it is not being charged.
    The problem there is that a battery in it's penultimate form would take a charge and be able to keep that charge for weeks or even years.
    This battery can't continue to operate long without input. How long I don't know.. but something has to keep it hot. My guess is that "something" is electricity. There is no free lunch here.
    Molten salt "batteries" are already in use in a more pure form.. solar to to heat. My guess is that doing it that way is many orders of magnitude more efficient for short term storage than the idea he presented.
    When I was first seeing this video, I thought he was talking about a flow battery. In a flow battery, electricity is used to plate zinc. When called for, the Zinc is allowed to lift off the plate back into solution.. creating electricity.
    Elegant, fairly simple. The problem with flow batteries is the mass. You don't get a whole lot of current per plate, so you need a lot of them to provide useful power. But it IS possible.
    Anyway, I did enjoy the final quote. That part is true and worthy no matter if the idea panned out or not. Sometimes we do things because it's worth while to try them.

    • @andrewlechner6343
      @andrewlechner6343 Před rokem +2

      Seems they did pan out or are at least extremely likely to. They achieved certification last month and will likely ship product to their first commercial customer this year. They also seem to have changed their company name to Ambri as well.

    • @seachemistry
      @seachemistry Před rokem

      They did work out, Ambri is the rebrand they have more staff than ever and have been certified.

  • @jfausset
    @jfausset Před 10 lety +1

    You are correct, sir. Entropy is the killer. It is inevitable, but can be delayed. Conceptually and principally, the problem we have is more of a consumption problem. The common person is not motivated to change that, though. I think this presenter is right to try to improve storage, but to your point, much more should be done to reduce consumption, and to teach people how to capture it at points of application (houses, buildings, cars) in low-cost, simple ways.

  • @zeq01
    @zeq01 Před 10 lety +1

    excellent!!

  • @Wilburinsky
    @Wilburinsky Před 8 lety +15

    I honestly dont understand the opposition to renewable energy. Beyond the obvious beneficial environmental impacts, we complain about the economy(which is actually doing just fine) but anyways I have to imagine an energy infrastructure overhaul on a national scale would be a colossal economic stimulant. You would have large quantities of engineers, technicians, construction workers, and everybody else associated gainfully employed. Im totally open and curious to feedback about the opposition to renewable cleaner energy. I just honestly dont understand it

    • @theultimatereductionist7592
      @theultimatereductionist7592 Před 8 lety

      +Will Parsons Agreed with everything else you said, but the economy is doing terribly.
      I and my friends are paid less now ($8 an hour) compared to what we made in the 1980s: $14 an hour.

    • @brettrasmussen413
      @brettrasmussen413 Před 8 lety +1

      +Will Parsons Will, there was a time when I used to share your enthusiasm for so called renewable energy, the problem with wind and solar etc is different depending who you are talking to, some argue against the economics, others against the clean label given to them, both of these arguments are quite valid I think, but for me it boils down to NET ENERGY. That is, the energy "profit" of the technology after a thorough accounting for all the energy inputs to deploy and maintain it for it's complete life cycle. Net energy is a concept that should be front and centre in any discussion of energy production but sadly it is usually not considered at all. In the case of wind and solar, net energy is way too low to run a techno-industrial-consumer culture like the one we have running right now.

    • @dranin09
      @dranin09 Před 8 lety +2

      +brett rasmussen It is not considered because Net-energy does not account for the limitations (abundance, effect on the environment) of the resource that is consumed. If we wanted the highest 'net-energy' we would still be digging up local coal for coalplants.

    • @merc340sr
      @merc340sr Před 8 lety +1

      +Will Parsons Try cost. Plain and simple. Renewable energy will never gain widespread public acceptance until it can be shown to be a more cost effective alternative to fossil fuels. Maybe this could happen in 20-50 years. But it hasn't happened yet.

    • @bobsaturday4273
      @bobsaturday4273 Před 7 lety

      Will Parsons whats to understand ? any threat to the status quo of the huge gouging and profits . the dumbing down of the public with antiquated technology promoted and innovation suppressed is also key in controlling the minds of stupid oppulent masses of sheeple

  • @EddieVBlueIsland
    @EddieVBlueIsland Před 4 lety +3

    Now its 8 years where' s my flying car?

  • @LDeVaud
    @LDeVaud Před 11 lety +1

    Right, but wouldn't that require that the battery always be connected? (Is there current inside a disconnected battery? I googled the question, and nothing popped up immediately) And for that matter, how do you start the battery up? Presumably after shipping it would be solid. Heat it? How?

  • @abdullateefibrahim4914

    How long can this system hold the energy input? How does cooling affect the energy recovery

  • @Arnond35
    @Arnond35 Před 10 lety +5

    Did he just add another step towards T-1000?

  • @scottbros6368
    @scottbros6368 Před 5 lety +17

    March 2012 preaching a new battery??
    February 2019...where is this magical battery???????

    • @bartoszbarejko1585
      @bartoszbarejko1585 Před 5 lety +1

      This liqiude metal is not good Technology. I am starting soon with 90 % H2O2 Batteries in Graphene.

    • @bradhaaf4749
      @bradhaaf4749 Před 4 lety +1

      Found it, though different chemistry. www.forbes.com/sites/natalieparletta/2019/04/03/new-thermal-battery-could-be-a-game-changer-for-storing-renewable-energy/#48ab080d4f95

    • @hariseldon3786
      @hariseldon3786 Před 4 lety

      reneweconomy.com.au/tesla-big-battery-in-south-australia-is-about-to-get-bigger-54935/

  • @blairparkay7132
    @blairparkay7132 Před 4 lety

    This is something that we would be interested in installing on our development sites if it has actually been launched to market

  • @Galactis1
    @Galactis1 Před 5 lety

    What are the deminishing returns? How long does the metals take to degrade, how long does a specified output stay high enough until it's need to be replaced.

  • @albertjackson9236
    @albertjackson9236 Před 5 lety +10

    This man appears to me to be more hype than true science & engineering.

    • @joemc111
      @joemc111 Před 4 lety

      Albert Jackson just another guy that ant got crap.

    • @beenn15
      @beenn15 Před 3 lety

      AMBRI

  • @brewmaster95060
    @brewmaster95060 Před 10 lety +11

    the word average is dangerous
    PEAK usage is what I what to know

    • @dranin09
      @dranin09 Před 8 lety +2

      +brewmaster95060 You can lower peak-usage because of batteries, 'averaging' out the usage. It's not dangerous it's math.

    • @jimstand
      @jimstand Před 3 lety

      @@dranin09 And you don't understand the application of math to this problem.

  • @alanjenkins1508
    @alanjenkins1508 Před 3 lety

    I like the idea of compressed air energy storage. It should be very scalable for one thing.

  • @HaydenLam1337
    @HaydenLam1337 Před 12 lety

    I want to know price, and whether it can be implemented at a household level...

  • @robertebersold3817
    @robertebersold3817 Před 4 lety +7

    I wonder if Elon Musk watched this video....

  • @wesleycooper7159
    @wesleycooper7159 Před 4 lety +4

    I thought batteries came from Iraq in the middle east? The Bagdad batteries.

  • @usfana
    @usfana Před 10 lety

    Well done Sir :D

  • @glorified3142
    @glorified3142 Před 5 lety

    Love it!

  • @popifar
    @popifar Před 12 lety +6

    they had to invent their bombs first

  • @cancoteli9669
    @cancoteli9669 Před 9 lety +8

    Thumbs up for 3.091 !!

  • @xRA1D32x
    @xRA1D32x Před 12 lety

    How do you build one!? Please open source the blue prints and production method!

  • @yaboobe
    @yaboobe Před 12 lety

    Sounds like competition for the Bloom box which is also an alternative storage device.

  • @sportbikeguy9875
    @sportbikeguy9875 Před 4 lety +3

    "were not going to conserve, drill or bomb our way out, we are going to do it the old fashioned American way" LOL how ironic....

  • @Ctajm
    @Ctajm Před 5 lety +3

    7 years ago now. No batteries.

    • @r.m8146
      @r.m8146 Před 5 lety +1

      news.mit.edu/2018/metal-mesh-membrane-rechargeable-batteries-renewable-energy-0122

  • @LA-MJ
    @LA-MJ Před 12 lety +1

    Great talk. The problem is your locally-sourced dirt-cheap magnesium costs around a buck per pound and antimony actually costs a few bucks per pound and uses Chinese ore:P

  • @Carnutzjoe
    @Carnutzjoe Před 7 lety +1

    There needs to be a CZcams setting to screen outdated videos.

  • @chapter4travels
    @chapter4travels Před 4 lety +3

    A giant battery would make wind and solar outrageously expensive.

  • @RobertBeriault753
    @RobertBeriault753 Před 5 lety +34

    The professor sounds more salesman-like than professorial.

    • @flightrisk7566
      @flightrisk7566 Před 5 lety +5

      there is no contradiction between salesmanship and professionalism
      salesmen are practitioners of a profession

    • @LordDragon1965
      @LordDragon1965 Před 5 lety +2

      He's both

    • @adamnilsson566
      @adamnilsson566 Před 5 lety +4

      I feel like he mostly sounds enthusiastic about his and his students invention.

    • @stephenscherer21337
      @stephenscherer21337 Před 5 lety +2

      My distaste for a talk increases each time the speaker uses the word "I"

    • @taunteratwill1787
      @taunteratwill1787 Před 5 lety

      @@stephenscherer21337 The 'word' I ?

  • @chuckkottke
    @chuckkottke Před 4 lety

    I think the answer is a convergence of efficiency of buildings, business, transportation with new storage devices, making renewable doable. I like the concept, but wish we could make do using more common elements (how common is antimony?)..

  • @bob15479
    @bob15479 Před 4 lety +2

    How efficient are these? Sounds like a lot of heat is lost.

  • @gabel13
    @gabel13 Před 8 lety +160

    this guy wears his watch over his shirt, can't trust him

    • @johnh7101
      @johnh7101 Před 8 lety +6

      +Gabe Barouh How insightful of you. I agree with you, that's freaky and a little scary too.

    • @StefanReich
      @StefanReich Před 7 lety +3

      lol

    • @English4-Everybody
      @English4-Everybody Před 6 lety +7

      He want to save time

    • @WadcaWymiaru
      @WadcaWymiaru Před 6 lety

      What he talk suit him, not the clothes...

    • @qaz9258
      @qaz9258 Před 6 lety +11

      An inventor thinks out side the box, the box that is completely imaginary. the boxy that says no^3. That one has to have his watch under his shirt is an imagined wall. It makes so much more sense to put the bulky and informative item over the thin constraining item.Thus another proof his thinking is not bound by others imagined limits. So you are are left in the dust with your lack of trust we are gaining trust to break this crust.

  • @TheJamescomiskey
    @TheJamescomiskey Před 10 lety +8

    THE GOOD OLD AMERICAN WAY GET PEOPLE FROM OTHER COUNTIES TO INVENT SOLUTIONS AND THEN BUY THEM!

  • @johnkang2000
    @johnkang2000 Před 11 lety

    Well...I'm a 3rd year Photovoltaics Engg and Computer Science student, and I agree. Vast energy sources such as thorium and LFTR generations can make renewable energy seem redundant: it is so easy to say "hey, check this amazing new thing called LFTR" and so on and ignore the huge increase in efficiency and cost reduction in renewable energy technologies. Also, we need better energy storage regardless of which source we use anyway.

  • @masluxx
    @masluxx Před 12 lety

    i am curiuos what the loss of energy is between the Mg & Sb and MgSb and back to Mg & Sb. Also i am curiuos if they have a way to radate off execive heat in high demand or charge cycles(easy fix if they look at old soviet sub reactor designs, which will produce more energy)...i have tons of otehr questions also, but an hopeful this can work.