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Bronze Age Tech Could Help Switch to Clean Energy

Transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy globally would be cheaper (by $1.27 trillion) and simpler using firebricks, according to a new Stanford study.


Refractory bricks insulating the inner steel shell of a kiln
Refractory bricks insulating the inner steel shell of a kiln | Wikimedia Commons/Alexknight12 CC BY-SA 3.0

Firebricks are a form of thermal energy storage with its roots in the Bronze Age, and could be utilised today to produce most of the heat needed for industrial processes - which is currently being done largely by continuously burning coal, oil, fossil gas, or biomass.


With the world focused on reducing emissions by transitioning away from fossil fuels to renewable sources like wind, solar, and hydro, the question is how to provide industries with on-demand continuous heat in a 100 percent renewable world.


As energy from wind and solar fluctuates, it’s important that sources replacing combustion fuels are capable of electricity or heat storage. Refractory bricks, which can withstand high temperatures without damage, have been used for thousands of years to line furnaces, kilns, fireplaces, and ovens. Similar to refractory bricks, firebricks can store heat or insulate, depending on what they’re made from. Using firebricks avoids the need for battery storage or green hydrogen storage of renewable electricity as electricity storage is replaced by firebrick storage.


Clearly, we have not yet achieved a world that functions entirely on clean, renewable energy, so Stanford researchers projected forward to such a world in 2050 and examined the impact of using firebricks to store most industrial process heat in 149 countries that are currently responsible for producing 99.75 percent of fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions globally.


“Ours is the first study to examine a large-scale transition of renewable energy with firebricks as part of the solution,” said Mark Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford’s Doerr School of Sustainability and the study’s lead and corresponding author. “We found that firebricks enable a faster and lower-cost transition to renewables, and that helps everyone in terms of health, climate, jobs, and energy security.”


Across the 149 countries, compared to the scenario where firebricks weren’t used, using firebricks was found to cut capital costs in 2050 by a substantial US$1.27 trillion. Firebricks also reduced the need for energy storage capacity from batteries by around 14.5 percent, and annual hydrogen production for grid electricity by around 27.3 percent.


“The difference between firebrick storage and battery storage is that the firebricks store heat rather than electricity and are one-tenth the cost of batteries,” Jacobson said. “The materials are much simpler, too. They are basically just the components of dirt.”


High-temperature heat-storing firebricks are widely commercially available. The researchers say that using them to aid in the transition to renewables would make the process inexpensive and simple, two things that they hope will attract people to support their novel solution.

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