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

譯者: 麗玲 辛

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

當我看著這塊磚，我滿懷希望。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

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

未來 50 年的生命週期裏，

cutting CO2,

它將減少二氧化碳排放，

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

像這樣的磚塊將減少 全球 15% 的二氧化碳排放量。

So let's talk about that,

讓我們來談談這件事，

but first, we have to talk about fire.

但首先我們必須談一下火。

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

火給我們溫暖， 提供家裡暖氣，烹調食物。

We also use fire to make almost everything.

我們也用火來製造幾乎所有東西。

Industrial production, making stuff,

工業生產、製造物品，

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

使用的化石燃料比世界經濟的 任何其他領域都多。

We burn coal, oil and gas

我們燃燒煤炭、石油和天然氣

to make steel, calcined cement,

來製造鋼鐵、煅燒水泥、

cook baby food, make glass, make fabric,

烹飪嬰兒食品、 製造玻璃、紡織物等等。

everything.

We don't notice it in our daily lives,

我們在日常生活中可能不會注意，

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

但工業能源使用是 全球總經濟的最大部分，

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

而工業熱能佔全球化石燃料使用 和碳排放的四分之一。

and world carbon emissions.

Let me say that again --

容我再說一次——

industrial heat is a quarter of world carbon pollution.

工業熱能佔世界碳污染的四分之一。

We need the stuff we make.

我們需要我們製造的物品，

We need to decarbonize our industry, not deindustrialize.

因此我們需要讓產業脫碳， 而不是去工業化。

How?

怎麼做到？

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

如果有一種新型的火， 我們今日就可以達成脫碳，

and avoid the time and costs

避免更換靠熱能運行的工廠 所需的時間和成本。

associated with replacing our factories that run on heat.

If we had clean heat ...

如果我們有乾淨的熱能...

we could have the stuff that we use

我們就可以繼續擁有我們使用的東西，

and we could have a giant drop in world emissions.

全球排放量也會大幅下降。

But for decades,

但幾十年來，

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

我們一直期昐藉由燃燒氫氣 或碳捕捉來獲得乾淨的熱能，

but costs and challenges continue to delay their deployment.

但成本和各種困難一再延遲其應用。

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

好消息是，現在有種更快、 更便宜的方式可以實現這一目標——

electrification.

電氣化。

Analysts now say that electrified industrial heat

分析師現在表示，工業熱能電氣化是

is the next trillion-dollar market.

下一個兆美元的市場。

I agree, they're right,

我同意，他們是對的，

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

因為風能和太陽能的成本持續下降——

power costs now are dropping

風能和太陽能的電力成本

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

現在已經下降到 低於工廠燃燒的石化燃料。

So we have the economic conditions to drive to scale.

所以我們有經濟條件來推動規模化。

We also have the capacity to build at scale.

我們也有能力大規模建設。

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

如今，我們擁有一切資源， 可以大規模建造風能和太陽能，

to repower industrial heat.

為工業提供所需熱能。

Yes, it's terawatts,

是的，這是兆瓦，

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

比現今全球所有風能和 太陽能總和還多五倍。

But there is a solution.

但有個解決方案。

We have everything we need, except continuity.

我們擁有所需的一切，除了連續性。

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

對吧？風只在某個時間吹， 太陽只在某個時間發光。

Heavy industry needs heat all the time.

重工業需要的是持續的熱能。

So we need to store energy some of the time

因此，某些時候，我們需要 把能量儲存起來，

so we can have clean heat all the time.

這樣我們就可以一直擁有乾淨的熱能。

How?

怎麼做到呢?

Most ways of storing electricity are too expensive or inefficient

大多數儲存電力的方式 都過於昂貴或效率太低，

to use for industrial heat.

無法用於工業供熱。

But what if we just stored heat?

但如果我們只是儲存熱能呢？

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

將電能儲存為熱能 非常簡單且成本極低。

Teams around the world are now trying to build

全球各地的團隊現在正試圖以這種方式

industrial heat batteries that store energy this way,

建造儲存能量的工業熱能電池，

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

使用新材料，如液鹽、 液態金屬和固體碳。

And some of these are going to work.

其中一些將會發揮作用。

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

人們需要時間，來確定它們是否安全，

time to learn how long they last,

需要時間來了解電池能持續多長時間，

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

需要時間來學會 如何大規模製造這些新產品。

My colleagues at Rondo found a way to save time,

我在 Rondo 的同事 找到了一種節省時間、

to go faster,

速度更快的方法，

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

使用已經大量生產的現有材料。

What were they?

是什麼呢？

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

這裡有一個提示——其中之一就是磚。

The other was iron wire.

另一個是鐵絲。

Why brick?

為什麼是磚？

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

200 年前，鋼鐵工業 引進一項節煤技術。

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

他們開始建造鼓風爐，

在數千噸磚塊中儲存數千度的熱量。

in thousands of tons of brick.

Brick is basically made from dirt,

磚基本上是由泥土製成的，

and dirt is available at scale.

而泥土很容易大量取得。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

When it's red-hot,

當磚燒紅時，

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

一塊磚每磅儲存的能量 與鋰離子電池一樣多，

costs ten times less, lasts ten times longer.

成本低十倍，使用壽命長十倍。

Half a million tons of brick

目前，世界各地的鋼廠

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

正在使用 50 萬噸磚來儲存熱量。

Iron wire?

鐵絲呢？

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

一百年前，發明了 一種新型合金加熱元件，

from toasters to industrial furnaces,

從烤麵包機到工業爐都在使用。

was invented.

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

它僅由鐵製成，加少量的鉻和鋁。

Today, that heating element is on your kitchen counter

如今，這種加熱元件 已出現在您的廚房檯面

and in industrial furnaces and kilns around the world.

以及世界各地的工業爐和窯爐中。

Combining brick and wire could be really cost-effective.

將磚和鐵絲結合起來 確實具有成本效益。

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

我們已經知道如何大量製造這些東西，

but there are some challenges.

當然也有一些挑戰。

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

如果磚塊一側過熱，或加熱不均勻，

it can crack.

磚塊可能會破裂。

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

如果鐵絲上有一個點過熱， 鐵絲可能會故障。

We've finally found the way to do it.

我們終於找到了解決辦法。

The way to combine these

將這些結合起來的方法是

was to heat brick the way your toaster heats bread,

像烤麵包機加熱麵包一樣加熱磚，

the way the sun heats the Earth with radiant heat.

就像太陽用輻射熱暖化地球一樣。

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

我們只進行了 74 次設計修改 就找到了解決方案，

and hundreds of simulations.

並進行了數百次模擬。

But the key insight -- heating brick with radiation.

關鍵點是用輻射熱加熱磚。

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

我們將磚堆成三維的棋盤格， 中間有開放空間。

The chambers let radiant heat spread the heat evenly

這些空間讓輻射熱均勻傳播，

so electricity can heat thousands of tons of brick

因此電力可以均勻地加熱數千噸的磚

to thousands of degrees,

到數千度，

safely and evenly.

安全且均勻。

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

一旦做到了這一點， 你已經儲存了能量，

and delivering clean heat is really simple:

而供應乾淨熱能的方式非常簡單：

push air into the brick stacks,

將空氣推入磚堆，

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

超高溫的空氣出來，驅動窯爐或熔爐，

or heats a boiler to make steam for your chemical plant

或者加熱鍋爐製造蒸汽，

用於化工廠或食品生產設施。

or your food-production facility.

Presto, you have a heat battery:

很快，你就有了一個熱電池：

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

一個工業鍋爐，

可以依靠風或太陽， 全年運轉，沒日沒夜。

on the wind or the sun.

A cement kiln that burns no fuel,

不必燃燒燃料的水泥窯、

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

零直接、間接排放的巧克力工廠。

Simple, low-cost and efficient.

簡單，低成本且高效。

I brought this brick for show-and-tell.

我帶來這塊磚是為了展示。

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

它將在未來的 50 年裏 成為熱能電池的一部分，

in a heat battery,

running at thousands of degrees, over a thousand C.

在數千度、超過攝氏 一千度的溫度下運行。

當達到一定溫度時，

When it's at temperature,

it stores more energy than a Tesla Model X.

它儲存的能量比特斯拉 Model X 還要多。

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

我們將約三千塊這樣的磚放入 一個箱子裏，製成一個熱能電池。

(Laughs)

（笑聲）

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

我們沒有備用品， 這之後真的會放入某個裝置裏。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

We are now at this very interesting point.

我們現在處於這個非常有趣的時刻。

Technology like this is simple.

這樣的科技很簡單，

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

也很無趣，但可以迅速規模化。

If you want to go to scale fast,

如果你想迅速規模化，

it's good to be boring,

無趣是有好處的，

to use these simple processes.

使用這些簡單的流程是好的。

There is a valley of death that everyone talks about,

大家都知道，新科技極具風險，

about new technologies,

between new technologies where high capital costs

有些新科技需要高資金成本， 以消減不確定性，

can absorb uncertainty,

and low capital costs, huge infrastructure,

而需要龐大基礎設施的 低資本成本的新科技

needs certainty.

則需要確定性。

New and boring is a really strange combination,

新穎和無趣是非常奇怪的組合，

but it's an excellent recipe for going fast.

但這是快速前進的絕佳秘訣。

Leading climate-investment funds, industrial producers

主要的氣候投資基金和 工業生產公司一致認為，

agreed that our kind of boring is a good idea,

我們這種無趣的方式是一個好主意，

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

並已幫助我們建立一支出色的團隊， 以便快速進行大規模建設。

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

如今，Rondo 正在為 低碳燃料生產提供熱量，

and developing projects around the world

並在世界各地開發

that will produce food, chemicals, metals and cement.

各種專案，生產食品、 化學品、金屬和水泥。

We are producing bricks at gigawatt scale

我們正在生產千兆瓦級的磚塊，

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

並在未來幾年內將產量增加一百倍。

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

因此，我們正處於 快速成長的初期階段。

Tackling our climate crisis needs our will,

應對氣候危機需要我們的決心，

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

但也需要工具，以便快速構建 大型新能源的基礎設施。

This is one of those tools.

這就是其中一種，

It's a six-gigaton tool.

一個六十億噸的工具。

Analysts say the fully decarbonized world

分析師表示，要實現完全脫碳的世界，

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

熱能電池需要儲能達到 電網電池儲能的兩倍。

Heat batteries powered by the wind and sun

由風能和太陽能驅動的熱能電池

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

將降低我們在脫碳世界中製造 所需物品的成本，而非提高成本。

in the decarbonized world.

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

這種新型火源將為我們的孩子及其子孫

more just world for our children and their children.

提供一個更安全、 更繁榮、更公正的世界。

Our challenge, Rondo's great opportunity,

我們的挑戰，也是 Rondo 的巨大機遇，

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

是大規模建設，為世界工業提供動力，

and save 15 percent of world CO2 emissions.

並減少全球 15% 的 二氧化碳排放量。

And with your help,

有你的幫助，

we can get that done in 15 years.

我們可以在 15 年內 實現這一目標。

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

這就是為什麼我滿懷希望， 我希望你也是。

(Applause)

（掌聲）

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Cheers and applause)

（歡呼聲和掌聲）