A new startup has developed a technology that it believes will eliminate the generation of 15% of global carbon dioxide pollution in 15 years. According to MIT Technology Review, Rondo has created zero-emissions heat batteries using bricks and iron wire, capable of producing enough heat that they can be used in industrial factories.
Industrial processes used to produce just about everything — whether it be cement, clothing, food, fertilizer, and everything in between — are responsible for about a third of the planet-warming pollution created in the U.S. each year. Most of that comes from the burning of dirty energy sources like coal or gas to generate heat for factories.
Replacing that massive amount of heat using only iron wire and bricks might sound absurd, but it's actually quite effective and simple. That's what makes this technology so exciting.
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The iron wire, the heating element similar to that in an electric oven or a toaster, is heated using electricity from clean energy sources like wind or solar. It's used to heat thousands of tons of bricks, capable of reaching temperatures over 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit. The bricks can hold the heat for days while only losing a little of the stored heat. When heat is needed, steam or super-heated air flows through the cavity with the bricks and delivers that heat.
Rondo first developed this technology in 2023 and has since raised $85 million thanks to its simplicity, low cost, the use of commercially available materials, and potential to be used at industrial scales. And these heat batteries can be built quickly and last 50 years or more.
There is one problem, though, the solution to which should already be a goal even if this technology didn't exist. To create enough clean energy to power the heat batteries necessary to replace dirty energy sources in factories, more solar and wind farms would be required.
Cheaper heating costs at factories could potentially lower costs for consumers while at the same time eliminating a lot of the pollution causing the overheating of the planet as well as health issues for those living near such facilities.
Rondo has partnered with Siam Cement Group to produce enough bricks to store 2.4 gigawatt-hours of energy a year, enough heat to power 200 homes. The heat battery is already in use at an ethanol plant in California, with more companies expected to begin using them within the next couple of years.
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