President, Global Policy Institute; Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Bay Atlantic University, both in Washington, DC
Washington, DC – January 21, 2025 – For the time being, a world running on clean, affordable, and reliable renewable energy is an aspiration, rather than an achievable goal. While great progress has been made in reducing the cost of solar panels and wind turbines, we are still at the very beginning of a long process. According to reports from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), in 2022, renewable energy accounted for 29.1% of global electricity generation. This percentage would include hydro power and nuclear power, “old” sources of renewable energy.
Almost 30% may look good; but clearly it is not nearly enough to make any significant progress towards ambitious “net zero” goals, let alone creating a path to the reduction of existing levels of CO2 already in the atmosphere.
Innovation coming to the rescue
That said, innovation continues, and new technologies may help expedite what may otherwise be an exceedingly long transition. Take the Rondo Heat Battery, developed by Rondo Energy, a U.S. company. Rondo looked at the energy consumption of major industries. They found that most of it is heat, rather than electricity. They noted that bricks heated by fossil fuels have been used for a long time as a source of heat by steel mills. Nothing new about this. But here is Rondo’s deceptively simple innovation.
Deploy especially configured large bricks in appropriately designed containers located on industrial plants and heat them with wires placed inside the container. Connect the wires to renewable electricity generation sources. The transformation of electricity into heat is done via the wires. The bricks absorb the heat. And here is your source of industrial heat at optimal temperatures.
Just like your toaster
As John O’Donnell, Rondo’s Founder and Chief Innovation Officer explains, this process is pretty much the same one that takes place inside the old tech toaster you have on your kitchen counter. You turn the toaster on, the wiring inside gets red hot, and the slice of bread you inserted in your toaster is toasted. Electricity becomes heat. We all know this.
Well, imagine the same “toaster principle” applied to a large number of specially designed bricks, placed in a customized container, designed in such a way that the heat will be uniformly absorbed for maximum efficiency. All around the bricks the wiring that will be heated. After a while, thanks to the solar or wind power plant connected to this unit, the wires become red hot, and the bricks will then store the enormous amounts of heat generated. This heat will be channeled to perform its industrial function.
This way, different types of factories relying on a constant source of high temperature heat, which want to use renewable energy, will not have to deal with intermittent generation: no sun at night or during cloudy days. Likewise, no power from wind turbines when there is no wind.
Partnership with SCG
In order to ensure adequate supply of its specially designed bricks, Rondo entered into an agreement with Siam Cement Group, SCG, a Thai company. As Rondo explains: “SCG’s world class refractory production operations are the largest in Southeast Asia. SCG’s manufacturing excellence has been recognized by prestigious global quality awards. […] Refractory brick has been used for centuries for industrial heat storage and is made of Earth’s most abundant elements: oxygen, silicon, and aluminum. Rondo’s breakthrough Heat Battery stores electric power as high temperature heat in refractory brick, without the use of combustibles, critical minerals, toxics, or liquids.”
Industrial heat from inexpensive renewables
And here is the Rondo’s value proposition: industrial heat produced in mass quantities:
“With Rondo’s technology, wind and solar can deliver continuous zero-carbon industrial heat at lower cost than fossil fuels, a critical need for industries worldwide producing every commodity from steel to baby food. The first Rondo Heat Battery is now commercially operating at a California ethanol plant, serving an industrial customer with the world’s highest temperature, highest efficiency energy storage of any kind.”
Having secured the supply of the refractory bricks made to its specifications through its partnership with SCG, Rondo now has what it takes to scale up.
The company estimates that by generating industrial heat via renewable energy that is then stored in its bricks, in 15 years its technology will reduce global CO2 emissions by 15%. That said, whatever the long term environmental advantages, it is clear that this creative innovation is clean, affordable, and truly cost effective, just like…your toaster.
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