From Chips to Green Energy: The Thermal Battery for domestic use | Festina Lente - Your leading source of AI news | Turtles AI

Andrew Bissell, a visionary engineer, was pondering the future from his seaside living room in Edinburgh, when a chance read about climate change changed the course of his life. The article predicted a sea level rise of 30 cm-1 meter by the end of the century, a disturbing prospect that led him to imagine his living room submerged twice a day. From this awareness, Sunamp was born, a startup founded together with his wife Susan Lang-Bissell, with the aim of finding a solution to the problem. Instead of joining Greenpeace, the couple decided to take action, developing an innovative technology in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh: a thermal battery capable of storing solar energy in the form of heat for domestic use.

The beating heart of Sunamp’s thermal battery is a material called sodium acetate trihydrate (SAT), commonly known as a food additive used in salt and vinegar flavored potato chips. In combination with water and a particular acrylic, which acts as a modifier of the crystalline habit, Sunamp has developed a system capable of storing and releasing heat through a cycle of crystallization and dissolution. SAT, already known for its use in reusable hand warmers, has a peculiarity: it can be turned on and off to release heat, but its ability to crystallize decreases over time. To solve this problem, Sunamp incorporated an acrylic that stabilizes the process, allowing the material to last up to 40,000 cycles, equivalent to more than 50 years of daily use.

Sunamp’s goal is simple but ambitious: harness excess renewable energy by storing heat when solar power is plentiful or electricity rates are low, then releasing it when needed, such as during the night or on windless days. The startup’s first widely available product is a compact thermal coil for the production of domestic hot water, designed for homes where space is limited. Bissell points out that globally, half of homes have enough space for a hot water tank; Sunamp addresses the other half, the one who cannot afford this luxury.

Sunamp is Andrew and Susan Bissell’s pragmatic and innovative response to the real threat of climate change, an example of how science and ingenuity can transform a global concern into a practical, lasting and sustainable solution.