I think this battery is meant to be used in small electronics projects. Like powering an arduino or even just an ATTINY.
It’s also a good illustration of how much we depend on extreme energy densities for everyday use cases. Coming up with a good storage solution for renewable fuels is going to be a defining challenge for our generation.
https://qz.com/1355672/stacking-concrete-blocks-is-a-surpris...
Works well, portable, space efficient (could house it in the center of a skyscraper), and easy to disguise as something aesthetically pleasing
https://hornsdalepowerreserve.com.au/
(it takes ~1 hectare, which maybe the tower of blocks won't have quite that footprint, it'll be at least that imposing)
In a sense, you're right that any technology currently in use is better than a technology that isn't, but if every discussion ended there, we'd have no new technology.
My question was assuming someone is choosing between lithium ion and gravity storage. My understanding is that lithium mining is pretty awful for humans and the environment, the batteries can explode easily, and their lifespan is limited.
Besides being a weird shape, what are the drawbacks of storing energy in concrete blocks?
Hydrogen is also probably feasible, just hard to store.
> The pouch cell as described, can provide ∼1 mA of current. At the typical operating voltage of ∼0.5v, each cell can provide ∼0.5mW. The cell is robust to at least ten cycles of charge and discharge without noticeable loss in capacity. An array of 6 cells is thus sufficient for low current electronics for sensing applications (such as low power microcontrollers like Texas Instruments MSP430).
It's research into making safe, DIY rechargeable batteries, which is pretty damned cool.
Restating that part doesn't change that, and it never states that use case as an intended application.