Summary of “A Look at Energy Storage Technology”
Date: Monday October 6, 2008
Location: The Mississauga Central Library
Speaker: Dr, Bryan Karney P.Eng., Chair of the Division of Environmental
Engineering and Energy Systems at the University of Toronto
Attendance: 50 people plus one Board Member
Dr. Karney started his presentation by stating the basics of a
thermodynamic system. That is energy flux, energy storage and change such as
an increase in stored energy. He pointed out that energy storage accommodates
imbalances of energy inflow and out flow. Dr. Karney talked about energy flux,
storage and change as found in nature.
Dr. Karney briefly discussed energy sources such as mechanical and
chemical energy. Examples he gave included energy stored in mechanical strain
and in chemical bonds. The metrics used for energy storage are: overall energy
content, maximum energy flow, energy density and cost. There are four different
requirements for energy storage. The requirements include very short term
storage which deals with power quality reinforcement, short term storage such as
back-up power for a computer network, medium term storage such as peak
power supply and long term storage used in conjunction with wind generators to
provide long term power.
Dr. Karney gave a number of examples of energy storage technology to
meet the different requirements. For very short term there is the capacitor for an
electrical system and the flywheel in a gasoline engine. A mini-compress air
energy storage or chemical battery can provide short term energy storage.
Technology available to meet peak power requirements include flow fuel cells
and compressed air energy storage. The purpose of long term energy storage is
to accommodate the daily and seasonal variation of energy from sources such as
wind and solar. Such examples of long term energy storage are the pump hydroelectric power plant, producing hydrogen and compressed air power plants. Dr.
Karney gave an example a wind farm in Iowa that will use compressed air to
store surplus energy. A question and answer period followed the presentation.
Cost
Hall Rental
Refreshments
Honorarium
Total
$76.98
$107.20
$20.41
$204.59