Can a Simple Brick Be the Next Great Battery? | John O'Donnell | TED

翻译人员: Jia Z

I get a deep sense of hope when I look at this brick.

看着这块砖，我深深地感受到了希望。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

It's going to spend the next 50 years of its life

它将在未来 50 年的生命周期中

cutting CO2,

减少二氧化碳，

and bricks like it are going to cut 15 percent of world CO2.

像它这样的砖块将减少 全球 15％ 的二氧化碳。

So let's talk about that,

那就让我们来聊聊它，

but first, we have to talk about fire.

但首先，我们必须聊聊火。

Fire warms us, heats our homes, cooks our food.

火能给我们带来温暖，给我们的房屋 供暖，烹饪我们的食物。

We also use fire to make almost everything.

我们还用火来制造几乎所有东西。

Industrial production, making stuff,

工业生产、制造物品

uses more fossil fuel than any other part of the world economy.

使用的化石燃料比世界经济的 任何其他部分都要多。

We burn coal, oil and gas

我们燃烧煤炭、石油和天然气

to make steel, calcined cement,

来制造钢铁、煅烧水泥、

cook baby food, make glass, make fabric,

烹饪婴儿食品、制造玻璃、 制造织物

everything.

等等。

We don't notice it in our daily lives,

我们在日常生活中并没有注意到这一点，

but industrial energy use is the largest part of the total world economy,

但工业能源使用是 世界经济总量的最大组成部分，

and industrial heat is a quarter of world fossil-fuel use

工业热量占世界化石燃料使用量

and world carbon emissions.

和世界碳排放量的四分之一。

Let me say that again --

让我再说一遍，

industrial heat is a quarter of world carbon pollution.

工业热量占世界碳污染的四分之一。

We need the stuff we make.

我们需要我们制造的东西。

We need to decarbonize our industry, not deindustrialize.

我们需要实现行业去碳化， 而不是去工业化。

How?

怎么做？

If we had a new kind of fire, we could decarbonize today

如果我们有一种新的火， 我们今天就可以做到去碳化，

and avoid the time and costs

避免更换靠热能

associated with replacing our factories that run on heat.

运行的工厂所需的时间和成本。

If we had clean heat ...

如果我们有清洁的热能，

we could have the stuff that we use

我们就可以拥有我们使用的东西，

and we could have a giant drop in world emissions.

同时我们也可以大幅减少世界排放量。

But for decades,

但是几十年来，

we've dreamed of burning hydrogen or capturing carbon to get clean heat,

我们一直梦想着燃烧氢气 或捕获碳以获得清洁的热量，

but costs and challenges continue to delay their deployment.

但是成本和挑战继续推迟着它们的部署。

The good news is today, there is a faster, cheaper way of doing it --

好消息是，现在有一种更快、 更便宜的方式来实现这一目标——

electrification.

电气化。

Analysts now say that electrified industrial heat

分析师现在表示，电气化工业热量

is the next trillion-dollar market.

将是下一个万亿美元的市场。

I agree, they're right,

我认同，他们是对的，

because the ongoing cost-dropping in wind and solar --

因为风能和太阳能的成本正在不断下降，

power costs now are dropping

现在的电力成本已经下降到

to the point that wind and solar cost less than the fuels our factories burn.

风能和太阳能的成本 低于我们工厂燃烧的燃料的地步。

So we have the economic conditions to drive to scale.

因此，我们有足够的经济条件 来扩大规模。

We also have the capacity to build at scale.

我们也有能力进行规模建设。

Today, we have everything we need to build wind and solar at scale

如今，我们拥有大规模建设风能和太阳能

to repower industrial heat.

以重新为工业热量提供所需的一切。

Yes, it's terawatts,

是的，它是太瓦，

it's five times more wind and solar than is in the world today.

是当今世界风能和太阳能的五倍。

But there is a solution.

但是有一个解决方案。

We have everything we need, except continuity.

除了连续性之外，我们拥有所需的一切。

Right? The wind blows and the sun shines only some of the time.

对吧？风吹日晒只持续一段时间。

Heavy industry needs heat all the time.

重工业一直需要高温。

So we need to store energy some of the time

因此，我们需要在某些时候储存能量，

so we can have clean heat all the time.

这样我们才能一直有清洁的热量。

How?

怎么做？

Most ways of storing electricity are too expensive or inefficient

大多数储电方式都过于昂贵或效率低下，

to use for industrial heat.

无法用于工业供热。

But what if we just stored heat?

但是，如果我们只是储存热量呢？

Storing electricity as heat can be simple and really low-cost.

将电能储存为热量既简单成本又低。

Teams around the world are now trying to build

现在，世界各地的团队都在尝试

industrial heat batteries that store energy this way,

使用液态盐、液态金属和固体碳等新材料

using new materials, like liquid salts, liquid metals and solid carbon.

来建造以这种方式 储存能量的工业热电池。

And some of these are going to work.

其中一些会成功。

They'll take time, time to learn if they're safe,

这需要时间， 需要时间来了解它们是否安全，

time to learn how long they last,

需要时间来了解它们能持续多久，

time to learn how to make a lot of something new.

需要时间来学习如何制造很多新东西。

My colleagues at Rondo found a way to save time,

我在 Rondo 的同事们 找到了一种节省时间、

to go faster,

加快速度的方法，

by using old materials that the world already makes in volume.

那就是使用世界上已经大量生产的旧材料。

What were they?

它们是什么？

Here's a hint -- one of them was brick.

给你个提示——其中一种是砖块。

The other was iron wire.

另一个是铁丝。

Why brick?

为什么是砖块呢？

200 years ago, the steel industry introduced a coal-saving technology.

200 年前，钢铁行业 引入了一项节煤技术。

They started building blast stoves that store heat at thousands of degrees

他们开始建造鼓风炉， 将数千度的热量储存在

in thousands of tons of brick.

数千吨砖块中。

Brick is basically made from dirt,

砖块基本上是由泥土制成的，

and dirt is available at scale.

而泥土是可以大规模获得的。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

When it's red-hot,

当砖烧红时，

a brick stores as much energy as a lithium-ion battery, per pound,

每磅砖储存的能量与锂离子电池一样多，

costs ten times less, lasts ten times longer.

而成本要低十倍，使用寿命长十倍。

Half a million tons of brick

目前，全球有 50 万吨砖

are storing heat at steel mills around the world, right now.

正在炼钢厂储存热量。

Iron wire?

铁丝？

A hundred years ago, a new alloy for heating elements,

一百年前，发明了一种用于

from toasters to industrial furnaces,

从烤面包机到工业炉等加热元件的

was invented.

新型合金。

It is made only of iron with a little chromium and aluminum.

它仅由含少量铬和铝的铁制成。

Today, that heating element is on your kitchen counter

如今，这种加热元件 已经出现在你的厨房台面上

and in industrial furnaces and kilns around the world.

以及世界各地的工业炉和窑炉中。

Combining brick and wire could be really cost-effective.

将砖块和铁丝结合起来可能非常划算。

We would know how to make a lot of it right away,

我们知道如何立即大量生产，

but there are some challenges.

但是也有一些挑战。

If you overheat a brick on one side, if you don't heat it evenly,

如果砖的一面加热过度， 如果加热不均匀，

it can crack.

它就会裂开。

If you overheat just one spot on a wire, the wire may fail.

如果你对铁丝的一个地方加热过度， 铁丝可能会失效。

We've finally found the way to do it.

我们终于找到了解决方法。

The way to combine these

将它们组合在一起的方法

was to heat brick the way your toaster heats bread,

是像烤面包机加热面包一样加热砖，

the way the sun heats the Earth with radiant heat.

就像太阳用辐射热加热地球一样。

It only took us 74 design revisions to find the solution,

我们只花了 74 次设计修改 就找到了解决方案，

and hundreds of simulations.

并进行了数百次模拟。

But the key insight -- heating brick with radiation.

但是关键的发现是——用辐射加热砖块。

We built a 3D checkerboard of brick and open chambers.

我们建造了一个由砖块 和开放空间组成的 3D 棋盘。

The chambers let radiant heat spread the heat evenly

这些开放空间让辐射热均匀地传播热量，

so electricity can heat thousands of tons of brick

这样电力就可以安全、均匀地

to thousands of degrees,

将数千吨砖块

safely and evenly.

加热到数千度。

Once you've done that, now you have stored energy,

一旦做到了这一点， 你就已经储存了能量，

and delivering clean heat is really simple:

提供清洁的热量非常简单：

push air into the brick stacks,

将空气推入砖堆，

superheated air comes out that powers your kiln or your furnace,

过热的空气就会出来， 为你的窑炉或熔炉提供动力，

or heats a boiler to make steam for your chemical plant

或者加热锅炉，为你的化工厂

or your food-production facility.

或食品生产设施制造蒸汽。

Presto, you have a heat battery:

这样，你拥有了一块热电池：

an industrial boiler that runs all day, all night, all year

一个依靠风力或太阳全年、全天候运行的

on the wind or the sun.

工业锅炉。

A cement kiln that burns no fuel,

一个不燃烧燃料的水泥窑，

a chocolate factory with zero scope 1 and scope 2 emissions.

一个实现范围 1 和范围 2 排放量为零的巧克力工厂。

Simple, low-cost and efficient.

简单、低成本并且高效。

I brought this brick for show-and-tell.

我带来这块砖是为了展示和讲述。

It's going to spend the next 50 years of its life

在接下来的 50 年中，它将在

in a heat battery,

热电池中度过，

running at thousands of degrees, over a thousand C.

在数千度、超过 1000 摄氏度的 高温下运行。

When it's at temperature,

当它达到一定温度时，

it stores more energy than a Tesla Model X.

它储存的能量 比特斯拉 Model X 还要多。

We put about 3,000 of those in a box to make one heat battery.

我们将大约 3,000 个这样的砖块 放在一个盒子里来制造一个热电池。

(Laughs)

（笑）

We didn't have spares, this is actually going into a unit.

我们没有多余的，它实际上 是要装进一个盒子里的。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

We are now at this very interesting point.

我们现在正处在一个非常有趣的时刻。

Technology like this is simple.

像这样的技术很简单、

It's boring. It can go to scale fast.

很无聊，但它可以快速扩展。

If you want to go to scale fast,

如果你想快速扩大规模，

it's good to be boring,

那么单调的使用这些

to use these simple processes.

简单的流程是件好事。

There is a valley of death that everyone talks about,

关于新技术，每个人都在谈论

about new technologies,

死亡之谷，

between new technologies where high capital costs

在这些新技术中，高资本成本

can absorb uncertainty,

可以吸收不确定性，

and low capital costs, huge infrastructure,

而低资本成本、庞大的基础设施，

needs certainty.

需要确定性。

New and boring is a really strange combination,

新颖和无聊是一个非常奇怪的组合，

but it's an excellent recipe for going fast.

但却是快速发展的良方。

Leading climate-investment funds, industrial producers

领先的气候投资基金 和工业生产商一致认为，

agreed that our kind of boring is a good idea,

我们这种枯燥乏味的做法是个好主意，

and have helped us build a great team to build big and go fast.

并帮助我们组建了一支优秀的团队， 以实现规模化、快速化。

Today, Rondo is supplying heat for low-carbon fuel production

如今，Rondo 正在为 低碳燃料生产提供热能，

and developing projects around the world

并在世界各地开发

that will produce food, chemicals, metals and cement.

生产食品、化学品、金属和水泥的项目。

We are producing bricks at gigawatt scale

我们正在生产千兆瓦级的砖块，

and growing that production, over the next few years, a hundredfold.

并在未来几年内将产量增加一百倍。

So we're at the beginning of a rapid ramp.

因此，我们正处于快速增长的开始阶段。

Tackling our climate crisis needs our will,

应对气候危机需要我们的意志，

but it also needs tools to build big, new energy infrastructure fast.

但也需要快速建设 大型新能源基础设施的工具。

This is one of those tools.

这是其中一种工具。

It's a six-gigaton tool.

这是一个六千兆吨级的工具。

Analysts say the fully decarbonized world

分析师表示，完全去碳化的世界

needs twice as much heat-battery storage as grid-battery storage.

需要的热电池存储量 是电网电池存储量的两倍。

Heat batteries powered by the wind and sun

由风能和太阳能驱动的热电池

will lower, not raise, the cost of making the things we need

将降低而不是提高我们在去碳化世界

in the decarbonized world.

中制造所需物品的成本。

This new kind of fire will power a safer, more prosperous,

这种新型能源 将为我们的子孙后代提供一个

more just world for our children and their children.

更安全、更繁荣、更公正的世界。

Our challenge, Rondo's great opportunity,

我们面临的挑战是 Rondo 的机遇，

is to build at scale to repower the world's industries,

是进行大规模建设， 为全球各行各业注入活力，

and save 15 percent of world CO2 emissions.

并减少全球 15% 的 二氧化碳排放量。

And with your help,

在你们的帮助下，

we can get that done in 15 years.

我们可以在 15 年内实现这一目标。

That's why I have hope, and I hope you do, too.

这就是为什么我抱有希望， 我希望你们也抱有希望。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Cheers and applause)

（欢呼和掌声）