are adapted from briefing charts presented by JPL. Note that they make a distinction between lead acid batteries and the developmental batteries typified by redox systems. A similar array of information generated by EPRI (Reference K3) is shown in Exhibit 65. The JPL results which are more recent are consistently higher in both cost dimensions and are also considerably less certain. This may result from inflation and a better appreciation of the situation but it may also have a more substantial cause. The documentation is insufficient at this time to resolve the question. 1. The Objectives of ERDA's Energy Storage R&D Program The primary goal of the Division of Energy Storage Systems is to develop energy-storage technology that can be used by electric utilities, by the automotive industry, and in various residential, commercial, and industrial applications. The purpose of energy storage is to reduce the dollar and environmental costs in using fossil and nuclear fuels and to conserve non-renewable, scarce petroleum resources. Energy-storage technology is also essential to the widespread utilization of renewable but intermittent sources of energy, such as the sun and the winds. Today, the largest existing need for energy storage is in the public and investor-owned electric utilities. The demand for electricity varies on a daily, weekly, and seasonal basis. These variations in the electric load have characteristic patterns in different regions of the country depending on the degree and type of industrialization and urbanization. For example, on a hot and humid summer day in the eastern half of the United States, the peak power demand can be more than twice the minimum demand on the same day, and the trend is toward even larger peak/minimum ratios in the future. Utilities meet this fluctuation in the demand for power by utilizing three types of power generation equipment. The portion of the total power which is needed throughout the day, i.e., the base load, is generated by large fossil fuel powered steam turbines and, increasingly, by nuclear-powered steam systems. That part of the total power that is variable during the daylight hours (intermediate power) is generated by the older, smaller, and less efficient fossil fuel powered units. In times of exceptional or peak demand for power, additional steam units or
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