Storing solar energy in the strangest places: Will Chueh at TEDxStanford

Will Chueh is an assistant professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Department and a center fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford. Chueh received his master’s degree (2010) in applied physics and doctorate in materials science from the California Institute of Technology. Prior to joining Stanford in 2012, he was a Distinguished Truman Fellow at Sandia National Laboratories. Chueh has received numerous honors, including the Caltech DemetriadesTsafka-Kokkalis Prize in Energy (2012), the Josephine de Karman Fellowship (2009) and the American Ceramics Society Diamond Award (2008). In 2012, he was named as one of the “top 35 innovators under the age of 35” by MIT Technology Review.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

20 thoughts on “Storing solar energy in the strangest places: Will Chueh at TEDxStanford”

  1. Thorium Molten Salt Reactors and Nuclear fusion need help from innovator like Will Chueh.

    Solar Energy has limitations:

    Dilute : need large area * Seasonal variations – Need fossil power backup * Intermittent on hourly basis – need battery/pumped hydro backup * Location specific

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  2. so they are microwaving the iron oxide solution to kick off the reaction. pretty simple. a little goes a long way…

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  3. Terrible idea. Containing hydrogen gas is difficult. It leaks everywhere because it's such a tiny molecule. Also, metal gets brittle if H2 passes through it at high pressure, which means pipelines eventually crack. You'd be better off creating methane from CO2 and H2O.

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  4. you forgot H202 we can run our cars on it repair the air with it , store it cheap and it stores lots more farradays than batteriesl
    OH YEAH this is a government funded program – well youre stuck in the box if you take their money
    We are looking for things that work
    You know Honda is already making solar H2 ? they dont know about H202 either
    Read "Technical Bulletin #46" from the manufacturing chemists association

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  5. How about using solar cells to power photonic circuits and all that stuff? Why waste it on electricity? I bet it'd be very efficient then.

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  6. If it weren't for the war machine, we would already have developed
    liquid flouride thorium reactors and storage would be the only energy
    game left to solve. Five years of development at Oak Ridge Labs in
    1960's already proved the technology – just couldn't get any weapons
    grade material from it so it was mothballed. Modern tech makes it much
    cheaper to build today and its "walk-away safe"

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  7. I don't think we should simply burn the fuel. The efficiency might be too low.

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  8. Poorly thought through hand waving. Check out a real solution developed by MIT professor Don Sadoway using low cost electometalurgy to store and release electricity using liquid metals. Liquid Metal Battery. High power, low cost, simple, long lived.

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  9. Wow Will !! Amazing job, Spread so well. This is truly an innovative idea and will be apart of the future for renewables. Iron Oxide!! You clever buggers 🙂 glad I'm apart of this shift, love and light!

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  10. this is no good solution. a good solution is to paint solar on yr building and grid tie it, use it fresh, dun store as storing is expensive. Use the grid as battery, in the day excess goes to the grid, in the night u take it back from the grid.

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  11. bad presetation…
    I didnt understand whats the project about. He just looks like a salesman…
    The quality of ted talks if going down the drain.

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  12. dear ted talks: I have been looking for a educational video talking about how vibrations can produce electricity within certain metals. i was hoping by posting this that the idea could be

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  13. In a rural home with a lawn why not take the heat from a water heater solar panel transfer it to a modified septic tank/anaerobic digester ad grass clippings and food wast . you get stored energy in methane and manure. If you know why please explain

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  14. Apart from Thorium, which the powers that be are happy to lose the lead to China and India, I was under the impression that we cannot easily store the hydrogen, I believe it's the smallest atom, and need to be kept separate from oxygen till it's burnt.
    If this is not true then wind and solar working together will produce the required voltages and allow the hydrogen to work when required. Please feel free to enlighten me.

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