RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:The bluefin Exxon discovery Yeah, I read a lot about new developments and the latest is using silicon electrodes in lithium batteries instead of graphite (carbon). Increases the energy density by 40x in lab trials. They say that it looks very promising but, like everything else, is it scalable and economical?
Right now the energy density (energy per kg) for lithium batteries is 1/60th that of natural gas. There's 60x more stored energy available per kilogram in natural gas than in one kilogram of lithium battery.
So, by my math, per Joule of energy storage: 1 unit natgas = 60 units Li battery with graphite electrodes = 60/40 units Si battery with silicon electrodes. 1 unit natgas = 1.5 units of Si battery with silicon electrodes.
So you wouldn't need to be lugging around all of that battery weighr in your Tesla or for the same battery weight you could go 40 times further.
But you still need to produce the free electrons to store in the battery. That is getting cheap like borscht these days. The biggest cost of solar is the battery storage. Don't I know it! Got 3 AGM, 200 amp-hour, deep cell with bypass solar batteries here. $1000 USD. Inverter and charge controller maybe $100.
So, if they can bring battery cost way down and energy density way up then there'll be a growing market for rooftop solar I think. The thing about centralized grids, whether fission, fushion, natgas, hydroelectric is that you're at the mercy of the utility companies for service delivery where they can hike the price whenever they want.. Our power in this commie run "paradise" goes out all of the time. It's almost as bad as it is in Cuba right now. Doesn't bother me one bit. Switch over to solar powered battery back up.Good to go. Got lots of solar flux here. About 1100 Watts per square meter.
How's this relevant to the oil market? I have no clue. People will game it out however they want. My own projection is that they had better hurry the f up on Corentyne!