• Way, way back in the days when men wore beards and wide-lapelled suits in exotic colors, only NASA had access to photovoltaics and ‘solar’ meant solar thermal • In those days of appropriate technology, it was thought that the ultimate in thermal mass was a phase-change material- a salt or wax that in melting and re-freezing could hold far more heat than plain rock or water, which were more often used • Well, now that it’s the 21st century, we’ve got something even better • As Ars Technica reports abouta recent paper in Science Magazine, Molecular Solar Thermal (MOST) energy storage can blow that old stuff right out of the water • Molecular energy storage • That’s where the sunburn comes in

Article Summaries:

  • Way, way back in the days when men wore beards and wide-lapelled suits in exotic colors, only NASA had access to photovoltaics and ‘solar’ meant solar thermal. In those days of appropriate technology, it was thought that the ultimate in thermal mass was a phase-change material- a salt or wax that in melting and re-freezing could hold far more heat than plain rock or water, which were more often used. Well, now that it’s the 21st century, we’ve got something even better. As Ars Technica reports about a recent paper in Science Magazine, Molecular Solar Thermal (MOST) energy storage can blow that

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