5 Ways How Tapes Can Help to Alleviate Energy Crisis Challenges
The world’s hunger for energy is constantly growing. Energy is the backbone of basically everything. Industry, mobility, communication — these are just a few from the endless list of areas that are impacted and depend on energy. Not to mention, in the day-to-day of our lives, we depend on it, too.
With limited fossil energy resources and their effects on the environment, new ways of creating, storing and using energy are becoming increasingly important. Join us on a journey of exploring how tapes can help alleviate energy supply challenges. They impact various steps, such as renewable energy production, transformation and storage or mobility and savings opportunities in buildings.
On our road to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, energy production from renewable sources such as sun, wind and water is growing worldwide. Increasing the amount of renewable energy creation units is one measure. Another is to increase the efficiency of existing and new installations.
Tapes are used in emerging renewable energy markets to streamline composite molding processes in wind blade production, protecting tools and equipment and creating improved surface structures. They also help to build the world’s biggest wind turbines that reach higher air layers for even better output.
Adhesive tapes are also used for the bonding needs of solar power. They are optimized to withstand stresses from outdoor exposure and protect sensitive components. They can facilitate production and assembly and combine unique functional performance in one product. Special foam and tape technologies provide excellent sealing and watertight properties for many wind, solar- and hydro-energy production applications.
Most of the created energy is not consumed directly where it has been produced. It needs to be transported and therefore transformed. In transformers, motors and generators, tapes play important roles to allow higher performance, reduced maintenance and prolonged lifetime through reliable protection and isolation under extreme conditions.
With the rising need for greener transformers, solutions such as those based on more sustainable resins inspire developers to design special tapes that fulfill the excellent chemical resistance and compatibility needed for innovative power supply.
Solar and wind provide “intermittent” electricity. Their energy production changes depending on the weather. In addition to the difference in where energy is produced and needed, power is also needed when there is no wind or sun. This can lead to times when too much electricity is available — and not enough electricity at other times. This is commonly referred to as the “grid level energy storage problem” and where energy storage comes into play.
There are various forms of energy storage from pumped hydroelectricity, hydrogen, compressed air, heat, lifted weight storage (LWS) in gravity batteries etc. that hold energy at one time so it can be used at another time.
For Battery Energy Storage Solutions (BESS) mainly based on lithium-ion like used in Electric Vehicles (EV), compression pads, thermal interface materials and thermal runaway protection materials can help to increase the performance of the batteries, prolong their lifetime and maximize charging cycle numbers and increase protection through innovative thermal properties.
We have seen that tapes are reliable components in renewable energy production, transformation and storage. They increase protection, safety and performance in BESS. The main driver behind BESS materials has been the developments for batteries used in EVs.
In lithium-ion batteries, innovative compression pads used between the cells combine defined pressure on cells during charging and discharging with thermal and electrical isolation for increased performance and lifetime. Thermal Interface Materials (TIM) help conduct the heat away from and regulate battery temperatures. Thermal Runaway Protection (TRP) materials create a thermal barrier to minimize fire propagation for increased safety in case of an exothermic event.
These materials and technologies help EVs to reach further but one of the biggest challenges electric mobility is facing today is the time needed to recharge. Fast- or ultra-fast-charging are the magic words and special tapes provide excellent electric isolation or help sealing charging stations against environmental influences to minimize charging time while maximizing safety and protection at the same time.
New and more efficient technologies in energy supply and mobility are important pillars but the biggest impact can be achieved in combination with energy savings. With a proportion of about 40% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, the building and construction industry is a heavyweight in the truest sense of the word.
Renovation of existing buildings, construction of new highly energy efficient buildings and new technologies like lightweight construction are examples of significantly reducing emissions. And guess what: Tapes can be key components here.
They help create air- and watertight building envelopes for outstanding energy efficiency and ideal living comfort inside. Sophisticated foam materials combine sealing, dampening and fire protection in one product which also helps maximize acoustical comfort.
Big potential lies in lightweight and prefab construction where foams and tapes are used in various sealing and bonding applications.
We are almost at the end of the journey of how tapes can help alleviate energy supply challenges. Even though this is only the tip of the iceberg, there is a lot in flux and small parts like foams and tapes enable engineers across the world to design new ways of powering the future.