Lightning in a jar

When it comes to renewable energy there are a variety of choices.  Hydroelectric, solar, wind and tidal energy are all abundant sources of renewal energy.  Technology needed to develop these energy sources as been well established and distribution is largely a matter of producing solar panels and wind turbines more cheaply.

The real hurdle between switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy is storing the energy.  The one advantage that oil and gas have is they are excellent conservers of energy.  The same barrel of oil can be used to generate the same amount of electricity today, next week, a year or five years from now with no loss of value.  It is so efficient that the US internal revenue service has defined a barrel of oil equivalent (BOE) as a unit of energy based on the approximate energy release by burning one barrel of crude oil equal to 5.8 x 10 (6) BTU or 1.7 MWh.

Batteries on the other hand, the empty barrels we put electricity into from renewable energy, are a leaky form of storage.