Indefinite storage of solar power via MIT

Re:Indefinite storage of solar power via MIT by tjmc on Monday November 08, 2010 @10:27PM (#1885171)

I'm becoming increasingly cynical about the way energy "breakthroughs" are reported. It's not the science side - it's great that they've worked out how this compound remains stable after absorbing energy. But you can't present this finding as any kind of breakthrough until they've actually found a compound that exhibits the same effect cost effectively. That they're looking is good. That they now know what to look for is better. But they're still searching. There's no breakthrough.

Let's get real - Ruthenium is about US$5500 per kilogram. You can buy the best lithium batteries on the market for significantly less.

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Re:Indefinite storage of solar power via MIT by tbrownaw on Monday November 08, 2010 @11:19PM (#1885306)

> That they now know what to look for is better. But they're still searching. There's no breakthrough.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/breakthrough

3a : a sudden advance especially in knowledge or technique

That they know what to look for now is very much a breakthru, just a "knowledge" one rather than a "technique" one.

> Let's get real - Ruthenium is about US$5500 per kilogram. You can buy the best lithium batteries on the market for significantly less.

Doesn't matter. They actually understand what's going on to some degree, well enough that now they can just throw supercomputer time at it for a while. Maybe they'll find something useful, maybe they'll show that there isn't anything useful.

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