Latent heat and cold storage: Overview
Storing cooling as ice and heat as melting wax or metal
What this tile covers Storing energy by melting or freezing a material, or by keeping things cold. Share of use <.01% share of world stored energy (2019)Share of the world's stored energy (energy capacity held, TWh, latest year 2019 to 2026) across the forms with figures, about 22,551 TWh; fuel stocks dominate. Battery and other stores count capacity, not state of charge (calculated) Over 13.9 GWh of cooling storage worldwide plus over 1.5 GWh of composite phase-change heat storage in China (IRENA, 2019), about 15.4 GWh. The cooling figure includes some chilled-water (sensible) stores. Source: Innovation Outlook: Thermal Energy Storage, IRENA.
Key facts
| Duration | Hours to days |
Included from the reference tables
- Ice storage for air conditioning
- Phase-change materials (paraffins, salt hydrates)
- Molten silicon or aluminium
- Chilled water, liquid nitrogen, ice houses
Also in Thermal
SHS Sensible heat storageCB Carnot batteriesExplore paths from here
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