Positive And Negative Aspects Of Energy Storage Systems

The invention of the various types of energy systems has made many people start analyzing the different dimensions of the energy storage systems. Many different views and opinions have been presented by various scholars and experts in the energy field. There are both positive and negative aspects of the different types of energy systems (Dunn, Kamath, & Tarascon, 2011). It has made many people who might be interested in a particular energy system to get to have more information concerning the different types of the energy systems.

The knowledge that most of the people across have concerning the different types of energy systems have enabled them to know more about the different positive and negative aspects of the systems hence allowing them to make the right when choosing the energy storage system to use. In this context, we are now going to look at the different positive and negative dimensions of the energy storage systems.

Energy storage is the harnessing of energy delivered at one time for use at a later date. A gadget that stores energy is once in a while called an accumulator. Energy comes in various forms including inert warmth, gravitational potential, power, radiation, raised the temperature, chemical and kinetic (Cao & Emadi, 2012). Many people around the world use different types of energy systems. It entirely depends on the kind of the systems that an individual or organization is interested in according to the function that the energy system needs to perform.  It is not necessarily that there are specific people who want to buy a particular energy system but there are also institutions and organizations that also use the various types of energy systems. The specific type of energy systems that each and every individual chooses will depend on the interests of the individual.

However, with the many different types of energy systems that have now been invented in the different parts of the world, many experts developing have had to face various challenges, especially when developing such systems due to the complex nature that the development of the system come with (Divya & Ostergaard, 2009). They are confronted with so many challenges in designing these different types of energy systems such as lack of proper storage systems. However, these challenges have emboldened some of the experts in the field to become more creative whereby they have now started designing some systems that can be used for the storage of energy that is usually produced.

The engineers have come up with various methods that they can use for energy storage. Such discoveries have now made different individuals, and also organizations to now start seeking for these systems to enable them to perform the various functions that they have put their interests in. In this paper, we will attempt to study more deeply about the energy storage systems. We will look at the different aspects of the energy storage systems i.e. the positive aspects, the impact that these energy storage systems have on the environment and finally look at the recommendations.

Despite having the negative aspects, the energy storage systems also have some positive aspects that we will have a look at in this section. Some of these positive aspects of the energy storage systems encompass; some of the positive aspects of energy systems include the following:

Reduced costs.

There is usually a cost that each and every individual has to incur when they want to use a particular tool or sometimes even when they are involved in a particular activity. There are costs which may sometimes tend to discourage some particular individuals or institutions from using that particular tool or partaking the activity since the prices may affect them negatively thus making them not to complete their specific tasks (Hadjipaschalis, Poullikkas, & Efthimiou, 2009). In the energy storage systems, there are some costs that an individual or a company will incur such as purchasing price or even maintenance costs. The cost might be low or high depending on the type of the system that the particular individual or organization has chosen to use. Some energy systems are usually less costly thus making various people want to use them.

Reduced costs

However, organizations or individuals will have to incur  some costs because some of the energy systems are not 100% flexible. For instance, when a person uses the solar energy to perform some various functions, they will have to bear the costs whereby in case there is no sunlight they will not be able to carry out their various functions due to lack of energy. This makes them somehow disadvantaged as compared to individuals who have energy storage systems (Hall & Bain, 2008). Energy storage systems have an advantage in that in the case where a person is using the solar and the batteries; the individual will be able to use the energy throughout. They will be able to store the energy in the batteries for future use thus making these people have an advantage.

Maximize self-consumption of power.

When an individual or an organization is involved in doing a particular activity, there is some urge for them to maximize the power that they are using. The energy that is usually produced might be extra for the specific activity that is to be done. It will make the excess energy to go to waste. This makes the various individuals to use the energy systems that will assist them in doing their activities (Ibrahim, Ilinca, & Perron, 2008). The energy storage systems have the ability to store the excess energy that is usually produced hence making them more efficient.

Increased resiliency

There is a great need for the various systems to be reliable at any given time hence enabling various individuals and organizations to perform their functions without any challenges efficiently. The different energy systems might at times not be reliable due to the various reasons such as natural disasters. Incidences such as accidents usually tend to make the energy systems not be reliable at the time when they might be needed especially the crucial times (Khaligh & Li, 2010). However, the good news is that the energy storage systems have some resilience against disasters like earthquakes and many others due to their ability to store energy in case such disasters occur. The energy storage systems are more advantageous than the ones which do not save energy.

In the case where the natural disaster had destroyed the systems when an individual or organization was using the power systems, they will be able to continue with their activities since they will now use the stored energy. This has made the energy storage systems to increase the effectiveness of the activities that mainly depend on power usage.

Maximize self-consumption of power

Increases production

The use of the energy storage systems has significantly helped many organizations around to increase their production. Many organizations have always set the goals that they want to achieve. For them to be able to achieve the set goals, they ought to have an increase in the production of the various products that they produce.  The energy storage systems can help in increasing the production of the different products that a particular organization manufactures. The energy storage systems support many organizations and companies around the world when it comes to the storage of more energy (Lee & Wang, 2008). The stored energy is usually used when there is no any power to continue with the usual operations. The installation of the energy storage systems by the different companies around the world has increased the production of goods and products.

Besides having so many positive impacts to many different organizations and individuals, the energy storage also has some negative aspects. Some of the negative aspects of these systems include:

The energy storage systems are not conducive to the environment when disposed of. Some of the energy storage systems have to be burnt for them to be eliminated thus this makes the systems to emit smoke to the environment (Lemfouet & Rufer, 2006). The smoke then forms an ozone layer in the atmosphere which will, in turn, affect the living things in the environment. It, therefore, makes the energy storage systems to have a negative aspect.

The energy storage systems requires some skilled personnel to operate them which means an organization or company will have to incur some costs when hiring someone with the necessary skills especially when it comes to maintaining and upgrading the systems.

The energy storage systems are also expensive to purchase and install. Because of that, not many organizations or companies can afford to buy such systems and put them in place.

The energy storage systems may sometimes break down meaning the company will have to incur some costs when trying to repair them a process that is very costly.

There are some specific types of energy renewable energy systems that might need extra assistance to enable them function as they are expected.

Some of them include the following;

• Thermal energy storage:  Thermal energy is usually produced to perform various functions since it is renewable(Li, Joos, & Belanger, 2010). It is needed for commercial purposes. It is stored in a medium at a temperature that is safe to use.
• Flywheel energy storage system: It is another primary storage system that has been designed to store energy into a huge spinning rotor(Zhou, Zhao, & Tian, 2012). Due to the large inertia, it maintains a constant speed thus making it easy for its energy to be saved.
• Compressed air: The energy can also be stored as compressed air in which a motor is used in pumping the air into a tank(Soares, Costa, Gaspar, & Santos, 2013). When in the reservoir, it can be easily reversed for it to be utilized in future.

The application of the energy storage systems has had some different impacts on our environment. The systems have had both positive and adverse effects on the environment. Some of the impacts that the energy storage systems have had are as follows;

•    They are environmentally friendly when in use: The energy storage systems that have been developed tend to be environmentally friendly as most of them do not pollute the environment. They do not emit dangerous smoke or even materials that might be harmful to the environment. This makes them not to be hazardous to the environment when in use.
•    Some might lead to the destruction of the environment: Most of these energy storage systems are usually enormous in size like tankers(Lund & Salgi, 2009). The bigger size of these tankers may result in the displacement of people, natural forests e.t.c.
•    Some conserve the nature of the environment such as electric storage systems: They do not necessarily need to be in various environmental areas for them to be used to store the energy; they might be put in a particular field(Miller & Simon, 2008). They are used for storing of the energy that will be needed in the future for future use. This makes the some of them assist in conserving the environment.

Increased resiliency

The solar PV and the wind turbines energies need to be stored for the future use. It is critical to store the energy to be used in the circumstances like when disasters or power failures occur I a particular country, company or even an organization.

There is a need for different corporations and organizations to seek the services of expert engineers in the field to help in designing various devices and technology that will enhance the efficiency and functioning of the energy storage systems (Rastler, 2010). The engineers need to find a way of developing a hybrid energy storage system that will be capable of combining both the wind and solar energy for the primary purpose of storage.

The two energy systems usually produce their energy at different interval time due to their dependence on the nature of the environment meaning there is no consistent supply of energy. It, therefore, means that any organization or individual that depends on any of the two should find a way of conserving the energy that is produced to avoid any inconvenience during operations.

Engineering experts in the energy field should design a hybrid electronic system that will have the ability to conserve the energy generated by the turbines and the solar panel (Sharma, Tyagi, Chen, & Buddhi, 2009). The development of such a system will reduce the dependence on the hydraulic energy consequently lessen the cost of operations for many organizations because they will now be using natural energy that is environmentally friendly.

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