According to the Stanford University-led study now in PNAS Nexus, heat-absorbing bricks similar to those used in ancient kilns could be the key to an industrially effective and cheap heat storage solution. Pieced together in insulated containers and incorporated into industrial processes, the bricks capture heat created from either the sun or the wind and release it for use in high-temperature processes. It was this method that offered a huge advantage over the conventional batteries that store electricity as the firebrick systems store only heat and cost only a fraction, one-tenth, of the battery storage.
A new study, led by Mark Z. Jacobson of the Stanford School of Sustainability, explains in more detail how these firebrick systems could yield big savings and efficiency gains. Industries that require high-temperature heat, for example, cement production at 1,300°C and making glass at 1,000°C, are vast users of energy and big emitters of CO₂, contributing to 17% of global total CO₂ emissions. Those could be much lessened if that necessary heat were to be produced from renewables.
Jacobson and co-author Daniel Sambor used computer models to examine scenarios in which firebricks have replaced 90 percent of industrial process heat. Their results show that such a replacement could help shave $1.27 trillion in capital costs and also trim grid energy demand, along with the need for battery storage. This technology potentially helps the transition to clean energy, reduces smog-related pollution, and has economic as well as environmental implications.
This unit of heat-absorbing bricks to store industrial heat reflects an auspicious move toward attaining sustainability. As industries seek to balance between economic growth and care for the environment, the integration of this technology in attaining the activities that mitigate climate change most point toward assuring a cleaner and more efficient future.