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Articles on Batteries

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Building an electric airplane is very different from building an electric car or truck. Venkat Viswanathan

Why aren’t there electric airplanes yet?

The battery technology and cooling systems needed for electric aircraft to lift people and cargo are getting closer to reality, but they’re still very different from electric cars and trucks.
With the right settings, Labor’s new scheme could benefit householders as well as the grid itself. Shutterstock.com

Labor’s battery plan – good policy, or just good politics?

Federal Labor has promised to give rebates of up to $2,000 to 100,000 households to install batteries to store power from solar panels. Is this good energy policy, or just middle-class welfare?
Research is finding better ways to make batteries both big and small. Romaset/Shutterstock.com

New materials are powering the battery revolution

Is it too much to dream of batteries that are part of the structure of an item, helping to shape the form of a smartphone, car or building while also powering its functions?
Grid-scale energy storage systems may make it easier to rely completely on renewable energy. petrmalinak/Shutterstock.com

How energy storage is starting to rewire the electricity industry

Saving power to use later lets consumers, businesses and utilities generate energy when it’s cheap and deliver it when they need it most. There’s not much of it today, but the industry is growing fast.
The proton battery, connected to a voltmeter. RMIT

How protons can power our future energy needs

A new rechargeable ‘proton battery’ - made chiefly from carbon and water - promises to outperform conventional lithium-ion batteries, while also being more environmentally friendly.
More blue sky thinking could help the grid get even smarter. AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

Virtual power plants are in vogue, but they can be like taking a sledgehammer to a nut

‘Virtual power plants’ offer extra power to the grid by tweaking the operation of batteries and appliances right across the network. But even this might be too blunt a tool for our future energy needs.
Researchers talk to Bruny Islanders who have signed up to an experimental new method of managing energy. Chris Crerar

Tesla’s ‘virtual power plant’ might be second-best to real people power

Our energy system puts consumers more or less at the mercy of business and regulators. What if the future of energy meant putting the power back in the hands of households?

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