Technological Developments Can Help California Achieve Emissions Goals

Tech Xplore has an article that covers how tech is helping California on its decarbonization goals. CA has set a goal of having net-zero carbon emissions by the year 2045. A major part of CA’s plan to accomplish this goal is to rely more on ways to store energy, so that fuel for any needed use would be available as much as fossil fuels do. Batteries of course do not release greenhouse gasses. As CA aims to move away from fossil fuels through the use of batteries, different groups and companies are setting up facilities for energy storage.

One of the most recent developments is that the company SDG&E set up a facility for energy storage batteries. This kind of technology can further help utilize alternative energy. CA has a lot of sun. So if these kinds of facilities can store the solar power during the day to use at night, that makes solar power a lot more usable. Wind energy functions similarly because there are times where there is a lot of wind available but other times there will not be any wind available.

The technology is similar to the batteries that power Teslas. The units are being made with enough energy to power whole neighborhoods. Given that these batteries work similar to the Tesla ones, it will take them a while to heat up. But proponents of this technology claim that this is a good thing because the batteries will have less of a chance of lighting on fire. Another issue is the cost. Like with the batteries that power Teslas, these batteries are costly. This makes it difficult for consumers to afford this kind of energy, and even for state and local governments to widely use. But many hope that the costs will continue to fall with greater investments. Beyond SDG&E, Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison are the other two main companies that are investing in this kind of technology.