>>And in a way, aluminum is a battery. Of course, while traditional batteries start and end with energy directly, aluminum’s battery is economic, converting energy to value. And that value can be re-used elsewhere (even converted back into energy!)
To the authors latter point, Aluminum isn't just 'like' an energy battery - it IS in fact a very energy dense battery. Aluminum alloys are used to liberate large amounts of Hydrogen at the point of use, which can be used in fuel cells. This is currently used as an air independant energy source for some underwater vehicles. The oxidized byproduct (which is about 8X less dense than the Al3 alloy itself) can be re-smelted to "recharge" the Al3+ battery. Apple actually developed a very low-Carbon aluminum smelting process, so the total cycle is very clean as long as renewable energy is used in the smelting process.
To the authors latter point, Aluminum isn't just 'like' an energy battery - it IS in fact a very energy dense battery. Aluminum alloys are used to liberate large amounts of Hydrogen at the point of use, which can be used in fuel cells. This is currently used as an air independant energy source for some underwater vehicles. The oxidized byproduct (which is about 8X less dense than the Al3 alloy itself) can be re-smelted to "recharge" the Al3+ battery. Apple actually developed a very low-Carbon aluminum smelting process, so the total cycle is very clean as long as renewable energy is used in the smelting process.