Can a simple brick be the next great battery? | John O'Donnell

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 25 January 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

The world relies on manufacturing, and manufacturing relies on heat — a massive contributor to global carbon emissions, responsible for a quarter of the world's fossil fuel use. Energy entrepreneur John O'Donnell has figured out a better, cleaner way to generate the heat we need to make the stuff we want. Learn how his team turned simple bricks and iron wire into a powerful, unconventional "heat battery" that could deliver industrial heat at scale without the emissions — and why he thinks electrified industrial heat is the next trillion-dollar industry.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Ted Audio Collective.
0:02.0	Audio Collective.
0:04.0	I'm at least Hugh, you're listening to Ted Talks Daily.
0:12.0	The world relies on manufacturing, and manufacturing relies on heat, a source of massive industrial
0:20.2	pollution.
0:21.6	Energy entrepreneur John O'Donnell has figured out a better way.
0:25.5	In his 2023 talk from the Ted Countdown Summit, he introduces us to heat batteries powered
0:31.6	by wind and solar.
0:33.7	It was coming up after a short message.
0:38.4	Like TED Talks, you should check out the TED Radio Hour with NPR.
0:42.8	Stay tuned after this talk to hear a sneak peek of this week's episode.
0:48.2	Fire warms us, heats our homes, cooks our food.
0:52.3	We also use fire to make almost everything.
0:56.9	Industrial production, making stuff,
1:00.3	uses more fossil fuel than any other part of the world economy.
1:04.4	We burn coal, oil and gas to make steel,
1:08.2	calcine cement, cook baby food, make glass,
1:11.2	make fabric, everything.
1:14.2	We don't notice it in our daily lives,
1:15.8	but industrial energy use is the largest part
1:20.0	of the total world economy,
1:21.6	and industrial heat is a quarter of world fossil fuel use
	...

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