# Latent heat and cold storage: Overview

Storing cooling as ice and heat as melting wax or metal

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_latent_heat/overview/

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](https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2020/Nov/IRENA_Innovation_Outlook_TES_2020.pdf), 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 storage](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_sensible_heat/)[CB Carnot batteries](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_carnot/)

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 More on this tile in the tabs above: science and technology, engineering and performance, economics, impact and additionality, what to track.

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_latent_heat/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_latent_heat/correlation/index.md)
- [Science and technology](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_latent_heat/sg-sci/index.md)
- [Engineering and performance](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_latent_heat/sg-eng/index.md)
- [Economics](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_latent_heat/sg-econ/index.md)
- [Impact and additionality](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_latent_heat/sg-impact/index.md)
- [What to track](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_latent_heat/tracking/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_latent_heat/links/index.md)