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Understanding The Basics Of Energy Storage

When you hear the term, "Energy storage" you may not know exactly what you're dealing with. And although thoughts of lightsabers and other fictional devices may come to mind, unfortunately, energy storage isn't quite the same. Let's take a closer look at the basics of energy storage to help you gain a better understanding and feel more informed. From what energy storage is to where we see it being used on a day to day basis, this article will discuss some basic fundamentals of energy storage. 

What Is Energy Storage?

You may have a storage unit, food storage, and you certainly know all about storage on your phone (especially when you run out-- yikes), but energy storage is a bit different. Energy storage can take many forms including batteries and solar panels. Energy storage involves storing an array of different types of energy including kinetic, chemical, electricity, elevated temperature and more in a convenient or economic form. 

How Does Energy Storage Work? 

In a perfect world, it would be easy for us to say, energy storage works like x, y, z. However, energy storage works differently depending on a variety of factors including the energy source itself and the storage device. For instance, a rechargeable battery-- like the one on your phone-- works by storing readily available chemical energy. Whereas fossil fuels store ancient energy in the form of organisms created by the sun. 

Let's Talk Solar Panels

Energy storage is all around us. Solar panels are one of the most popular forms of energy storage that we are seeing more and more of. Although solar panels used to be something of the future, their future is now here and you can see them in big cities, in residential areas, and even in more rural places all across the globe. Solar panels work by gathering the suns energy, converting it into electricity, and then storing it for later use. Plus, by using the energy from the sun to create electricity, nothing is quite as renewable as using an energy storage system like solar panels. 

As you can see, energy storage is all around us. It is in our cell phones, it is on our roofs (or at least some of them), and in most of our electronic devices. If you would like to learn more about energy storage, contact a company that specializes in energy and the environment near you! 


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