How scientists turn lakes into giant batteries

Discover the world’s biggest battery and explore how inventors are creating other giant batteries to help power the world— sustainably.

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As of 2020, the world’s biggest lithium-ion battery is hooked up to the Southern California power grid and can provide enough power for about 250,000 homes. But it's actually not the biggest battery in the world: a pair of lakes are. How can lakes be a battery? Explore how inventors are rethinking what a battery can be, and how these surprising solutions could help us achieve a sustainable future.

Directed by Lisa LaBracio.
Animation and art direction by Luísa M H Copetti & Hype CG.

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Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Aaron Henson, Cailin Ramsey, Begum Tutuncu, Ever Granada, Brian Richards, Divina Grace Dar Santos, Cindy O., Jørgen Østerpart, Tyron Jung, Carolyn Corwin, Charlene You, Carsten Tobehn, Katie Dean, Ezgi Yersu, Gerald Onyango, alessandra tasso, Alan Froese, Côme Vincent, Doreen Reynolds-Consolati, Manognya Chakrapani, Ayala Ron, Samantha Chow, Eunsun Kim, Phyllis Dubrow, Ophelia Gibson Best, Paul Schneider, Joichiro Yamada, Henrique 'Sorín' Cassús, Lyn-z Schulte, Elaine Fitzpatrick, Karthik Cherala, Joshua Merchant, Clarence E. Harper Jr., Clarissa Bartolini-Toro, Exal Enrique Cisneros Tuch, Srikote Naewchampa, Tejas Dc, Khalifa Alhulail, Martin Stephen, Dan Paterniti, Jose Henrique Leopoldo e Silva, Elnathan Joshua Bangayan, Jayant Sahewal, Mandeep Singh, Abhijit Kiran Valluri, Morgan Williams, Kris Siverhus, Devin Harris, Joy Love Om and Pavel Zalevskiy.

[stoicalsatrn]

I love it when he says "batry"

[ilertargenthorne]

A shame how almost everything we need is destructive to obtain.
_Now Bacteria batteries on the other hand..._

[midimusicforever]

So, there's a whole battery of different... Batteries.

[ankitarsh]

Battery-
NOKIA: "Well it's small but actually big."
Apple: "This is the best iPhone ever."

[zephyr]

By reading the comments here...I get it that Nokia's battery is still the talk..

[antoniosollazzo]

Can we take a moment and appreciate this animation?

[azericthetraveller]

It makes me so happy that people are getting so creative and unorthodox with batteries. I was amazed to hear about the skyscraper battery, and the spit activated battery. Spit seems odd, but when explained suddenly makes perfect sense, and it’s great.

[TheJociman]

Coolest battery design I've seen is a flywheel battery. Basically you use energy to spin a cylinder in a vacuum, and when you need energy you use the cylinder's momentum to create electricity. There's such incredible amount of energy stored in those things it's crazy.

[ZidanTaufiq]

When the narrator mention lake, , I suddenly remember Turlough Hill in Ireland.

[satvikrk]

They don't even talk about how much rechargable lithium ion batteries degrade

[Alphaloser]

Isn't it amazing that humans even 30 years ago couldn't imagine that one day a computer(our phones) would be in everyone's pocket. There were many thoughts that it is not possible but it happened. Similarly, in the coming 20 years we might actually discover cleaner and more efficient energy that we are now not able to find.

[RayRay-lown]

The animations are always so nice to see

[Lau-xzku]

The lake battery mentioned in this video is in Virginia, but Irelands has one too; Turlough Hill water turbine powerplant. RealEngineering recently made an explanational video about the engineering behind it, very interesting!

[ilertargenthorne]

Put a bacteria battery in a school and it will last forever.
*-Max Planck*

[kevinmcgee]

I like that subtle nod to Starry Night and how it helped scientific discovery in the field of turbulence, implying that there could be another Starry Night for electricity

[akarsharun]

Humans: We need to save water for drinking
Me be like : We need to save water for electricity

[TristanSamuel]

My new phone is a bit bulk, but I'm sure it will survive a day or two!

[kollurubharathsimha]

Gravitrocity is one of best method to store energy I have every come across

[MichaelSmith-ijut]

This episode of Real Engineering is sponsored by Nebula.

[-uk]

Dyson Sphere: and i took that personally