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Spotted: As worldwide demand for lithium soars, production remains unpredictable and unsustainable. Current reliance on lithium-ion batteries for renewable energy storage, smart devices, and more, must shift to alternative means and materials. One solution is from Energy Dome, an Italian company that recently launched a long-term energy storage facility that uses pollution as a highly efficient battery.

Called the CO2 Battery, the system uses carbon dioxide’s two states, liquid and gas, to hold and release energy as required. The process is a closed thermodynamic transformation that requires ambient, as opposed to cryogenic, temperatures. That difference in temperature makes the CO2 Battery much easier to situate in a range of environments as well as less expensive to build and maintain.

When the carbon dioxide gas is compressed, the process generates heat that is stored in thermal energy storage systems. When power is needed, the gas is released into the Dome where it is heated by the storage systems, returning electricity to the grid.

Located in Sardinia, the CO2 Battery stores more than one megawatt of energy and is currently undergoing final preparations for commercial use. Energy Dome’s development plans include building a 20 to 200 megawatt battery to be ready for use in late 2023, and the company has plans for projects in Africa, the Middle East, Germany, and elsewhere in Italy. 

From used EV batteries repurposed for home use to on-demand solar power, Springwise is spotting increasing numbers of energy storage solutions that incorporate waste or commonly found products to help improve accessibility.  

Written by: Keely Khoury