With Cheap Batteries, Can Electricity Storage Threaten Natural Gas Sales?

摘要

As an energy form, natural gas enjoys unique cost and environmental advantages—it's free of sulfur, particulates, and most other air contaminants; is plentiful at low prices; and emits the least carbon of any carbon fuel. Gas also has a key intrinsic advantage: it's highly compressible, and hence can be transported on and balanced by pipelines, stored en masse for peak demands, and can even drive compressed natural gas (CNG) cars, trucks, buses, and similar vehicles. Relatively low-cost storage has given gas the edge in a number of its markets, especially when in competition with electricity. Electricity storage, on the other hand, has historically been expensive and inefficient (e.g., lead acid batteries and pumped hydro storage lose 30 percent to 40 percent of the energy that goes into them).