Environmental Sustainability: Energy Storage Systems Report

This comprehensive report delves into the critical role of energy storage systems in achieving environmental sustainability. It begins with an abstract highlighting the urgent need for sustainable development due to anthropogenic impacts and explores various energy storage systems, evaluating their advantages and disadvantages. The report examines the commercial applications of these systems, including pumped hydro, thermal energy, and compressed air storage, while also assessing their environmental impacts. It then focuses on cost-effective options like solar PV panels and wind turbines, providing detailed analyses of their functionalities and potential. The report concludes with recommendations for these technologies and discusses future prospects in sustainable energy development, including geothermal, flywheel, tidal, and superconducting magnetic storage, as well as ongoing research in microbial fuel cells and biofuels. The report underscores the importance of transitioning from non-renewable fossil fuels to cleaner, renewable energy sources, aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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ABSTRACT
The sustainable development of the mankind is the key to human survival in the planet. The
growing anthropogenic impact on the environment has made the planet vulnerable for the
existence of life. The continuous degradation of the environment and depletion of its resources to
satisfy human demand has left the environment in a state that can no longer be reversed. It is
time that that alternative sources of energy production and sustainable methods are identified and
put to practice to reverse the impacts thus created. The paper will look into the different energy
storage systems and how they are used to store energy created from non conventional sources.
The cleaner sources of energy have huge potential and optimum utilization of these resources can
solve the existing issues of global energy requirements. Human technology is yet to develop to
full tap the energy from sources of nature and the report will also look into the various
applications and technologies that are being developed to tap the energy and store in different
forms. The environmental impacts, their advantages and disadvantages will also be reviewed in
the paper. The paper will also review and understand the competitive options that include Solar
PV Panels and Wind turbines. The paper concludes with recommendations of these technologies
and a review of current and future prospects in the field of sustainable energy development.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Energy storage systems: the pros and cons..................................................................................5
Advantages of Energy Storage Systems: The Pros..................................................................6
Disadvantages of the Energy storage Systems: The Cons.......................................................7
Commercial application of energy storage systems....................................................................7
Environmental impact of storage systems...................................................................................9
Cost effective recommendations: Solar PV and Wind turbine systems....................................12
Solar PV Panels.....................................................................................................................12
Wind Turbines.......................................................................................................................13
Energy Storage Systems: The Future Prospects........................................................................15
Geothermal Energy................................................................................................................15
Fly Wheel Storage System.....................................................................................................16
Tidal Energy..........................................................................................................................16
Super Conducting Magnetic Storage.....................................................................................17
Ongoing Research: Microbial Fuel Cell and Bio Fuels.........................................................17
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................18
References......................................................................................................................................20

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Introduction
With the growing environmental issues and the degradation of the environment, the
world has started to look into alternatives and means that can provide sustainable growth and
allow for more concrete development with lesser anthropogenic impact on the environment.
Since the advent of time, the goal of necessary development has been dependent on energy
extensively. The journey from non renewable fossils fuels to cleaner renewable fuels happened
with the growing consciousness of the environment. The concept for sustainable development
developed with the first Earth Summit held at Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The Earth summit first
addressed issues regarding environmental pollution and degradation of the environment. Prior to
the 1970s very efforts were made to integrate and evaluate environmental degradation and it’s
the social and economic impact (Barrow, 2006). Initially the concept of environmental
management started with natural resources management which later was modified into
sustainable environment management. The natural resources management was not promulgating
and addressing the interest of the environment and a need for sustainable development arose to
prevent the environment. The energy supplies of the world are majorly contributed by non
renewable resources mostly petroleum and coal. The U.N General Assemble adopted ‘Agenda
2030’ in 2015 for achieving Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs which is dedicated to
ensure sustainable plans for energy for all. The Paris Agreement and the Agenda 2030 for
Sustainable development focuses on cleaner and environment friendly energy. The introduction
of Solar PVs and Wind Turbines as sources of sustainable energy have gained momentum and
over the years and is being promoted to meet the SDGs goal (Barton and Infield 2004).

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The issue that comes with creating safe energy and reducing the environment impact is
the storage of the energy and the life cycles assessment of these storages and the kind of impact
they have in the environment. The report will look into the several kinds of storages that are
available, the impact that they have on our environment, the sustainability of the non-
conventional sources of energy and the way they create scope for sustainable environmental
management.
Energy storage systems: the pros and cons
The recent growth of the several renewable sources of energy it has become important to
store the produced energy in storage systems. The future will see constant rise in production of
energy mostly from renewable energy resources and the storage systems will be influential in
determining the use of these sources of energy in the time to come. Decentralized electrical
production from renewable sources yield more productivity and assures supply with fewer
environmental hazards. The character of production of renewable sources being unpredictable
requires proper systems of storage that would ensure uninterrupted power supply. The renewable
energy resources fluctuate in their productions and therefore it is mostly important to have
adequate storage facilities for the power being generated. The importance of storage systems
therefore is paramount in any site of energy production. The section will look into the several
concepts and types of storage systems that are being used to store energy produced form non
conventional means (Dash, 2010).
Generally, storages are done in dry cells mostly including lithium ion for lower
capacities. Higher capacity intakes are generally stored in system with complex structures which
include mostly compressed air and flow batteries and fuel cells. Though compressed air and fuel
cells are relatively younger technologies and field results are still not confirmed. Fly wheels and

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Super Capacitors are generally more preferable. Hydraulic and magnetic storages are also
reliable means of intermittent storage. A look at the all the storage systems that can potentially
create opportunities for the renewable energy will help us to evaluate the advantages they
provide and the drawbacks that resist them from implementation in commercial scale (Sternberg
and Bardow, 2015).
Advantages of Energy Storage Systems: the Pros
The advantages of storage systems in storing energy resources include transmission in
remote area and locations and
decentralizing of transmission. Storage
systems are environmentally cleaner as
compared to transmission of conventional
sources of energy. There are several factors
that add up to the advantages of storage
systems apart from accessibility and
installation of these systems in remote
locations. Autonomy of the storage systems
make them competent enough for installation in remote places (Barton and Infield, 2004).
Autonomy refers to the continuous supply of energy from the storage and is defined in terms of
the ratio between energy capacity and discharge capacity. The next advantage that the storage
systems hold is the efficiency. Different systems have different capacities of energy storage and
efficiency depends on the load they serve and the amount of energy that is being handled by
these systems. Generally, storage systems are characterized by their ability to be permanent
establishments or portable units. This gives an advantage over transmission systems and general
Image 1: Hydro storage system
Source: (TheGreenAge, 2018)

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methods of energy transmission. The option of energy storage in terms of duration is an also a
flexible choice and an added value to the storage systems. The storage systems can be devised in
terms of long term storage and short term storage systems and hence modulations according to
requirement can be made. The storage systems can be moulded in to several requirements based
on the amount of energy required and therefore these units can be made according to the
maximum capacity required (Barrow, 2006).
Disadvantages of the Energy storage Systems: the Cons
Looking over to the negative effects of the storage systems, the energy storage systems
being recent inventions, innovations and advancement of technologies are still yet to come. The
storage systems have a number of imitations that limit their applicability while establishment of
units. The storage systems have been grossly studied over their durability and life. The self
discharge also demotes their application to various fields. The Self discharging character of most
of the energy storage systems is generally an issue that affects the storage systems. The storage
systems also require regular monitoring and maintenance with equipment controlling therefore
they are less encouraged. Cost is one of the major factors attached to storage systems. Any form
of energy production and transmission incurs huge investment costs and storage systems are not
an exception (Hemmati and Hooshmand, 2017). The cost attached to the establishment and
commissioning of these units have huge cost initial cost attached which is negative factor for the
concern. Apart from these, operational constraints and reliability issues due to their unpredictable
nature are major drawbacks of storage systems.
Commercial application of energy storage systems
Since storage systems have been recent inventions most of their commercial potential is
still under trials or field tests. The several technologies that are being used in storage systems

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have their advantages and disadvantages, which depend on their usage and application. Batteries
are the most common forms of storages but are restricted to low capacity usages. A look at the
following storage systems will enable us to understand the various storage systems that are in
common use for storing energy from renewable sources.
The storage systems include:
 Pumped Hydro storage (PHS)
 Thermal Energy storage (TES)
 Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES)
 Small scale Compressed Air Energy Storage (SSCAES)
 Natural Gas Storages (NGS)
 Flow Battery Storages (FBS)
 Fuel Cell Storages (FCS)
 Fly Wheel Energy storages (FWE)
 Super Conducting Magnetic Energy Storages (SMES)
 Energy storage in Super capacitors
The various storage systems have several applications and are generally used based on their
application and requirement (Sternberg and Bardow 2015). The most commercial viability
depends on several factors that include the amount of energy required and the budgetary
allocations available. The geographical factors are also taken into considerations while
considering their availability.
The pumped hydro storage or the PHS storage facility is a system involving the storage of energy
by accessing the power of water. It has the capacity to store high capacity energy that can range

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to almost 100 MW and is readily available where water resources are abundant. The system
involves pumping water from a lower storage to a higher storage when water inflow is less,
during peak load times water is allowed to flow from the higher reservoir to the lower one
producing higher capacities of electricity (Chen et al 2009).
The Thermal Energy Storage uses the power of heat to transform fluids into steam and thereby
turn turbines to generate electricity. Generally different compounds are tried to store heat in
forms and mostly include Sodium, Molten salt and pressurized water systems. The general
techniques involve transforming the preserved heat into other forms of energy. The TES has a
high efficiency and does not have geological constraints.
The compressed air energy storage systems are the most cost effective means of energy storage
systems. They achieve similar efficiencies compared to their competitors. The CAES uses the
mature technical application using high pressure compressed air to store the energy at lesser
operational costs (Lund and Salgi 2009). This increases feasibility and cost effectiveness of the
issue. Generally deep salt mines or rock caverns deep underground are used to store the
compressed air and are simultaneously used to generate electricity. Researches reveal that air can
be compressed in cisterns and similar pressure which would remove the geological constraints
and allow commercial viability of the storage facility.
The other storage system uses technologies that have not been commercially applicable and have
only been lab tested so far. These applications are yet to be tested commercially and further
innovations will still going on in these systems of energy storage.

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Environmental impact of storage systems
The storage systems have an environmental impact that can be that can be analysed
depending on the lifecycle assessment of the different storage systems. Most of the storage
systems that store renewable energy require use different compounds and processes to harness
and store the energy (Sternberg and Bardow 2015). A brief look into the various storage systems
will allow us to understand the impacts that they can create and will help us to see their positive
or negative effects in the surrounding.
The storage systems are generally cleaner and have less environmental impact as
compared to their counterparts in the conventional formats. The environmental impacts of the
energy storage systems can be evaluated through an over view of the life cycle analysis of the
various systems based on their consumption of energy for operation which requires the sources
from traditional means. The establishment of the facilities and their operation incurs an impact
which also needs to be taken into account. The impact on the environment can be measured in
terms of a functional unit and the necessary impact can be understood through the evaluation of
the unit per capacity. The impact of the environment can be accessed through their impact on
global warming, fossil depletion and resource depletion. An impact on the environment includes
categories that have promote eutrophication in fresh water and marine ecosystems, human
toxicity, mineral resource degradation, ionizing radiation, ozone depletion and photochemical
oxidation (Ibrahim, Ilinca and Perron 2008). The impact will also include acidification,
categorization according to the carbon and water footprint that follow throughout the life cycle of
the energy storage systems. A brief schematic below will allow us to understand the impact with
respect to global warming and CO2 footprint and greenhouse emissions.

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Schematic 1: Assessment of environmental impacts of Energy Storage Systems.
Source: (Sternberg and Bardow 2015)
The several process through out the life cycle of the energy storage systems include
various impacts at each stage and therefore the impacts vary depending on the basis of the
compounds being used in the processes.
The impact of the HES storage systems include water footprint due to their massive use
of water as a mens to store energy. The amount of water stored incurs heavy impact on the
footprint for the HES systems (Hemmati and Hooshmand 2017). The HES systems generally
have no other environmemntal impacts apart from the water usage and impacts in the ecology
while establishment is constructed. The toxicity of the chemical storage systems and and
chemical batteries inculde impact from the radiation of the compounds that are used in the
storage systems.