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Abstract

This article explores the trials and tribulations of various attempts to store energy from a broad historical and geographical perspective. It focuses on recent developments in and around Berlin but it extends into the deep past and distant stars. Taking in a wide- ranging sequence of historical events, it argues that certain dreams about unparalleled con- trol over Earth’s energy flows are unraveling. What if, rather than clinging to the vestiges of fossil-fueled existence or maintaining 24-7 lifestyles with banks of lithium-ion batteries, some decided to welcome the cycles and periodicities of the Sun back into their lives? It asks what we can learn from focusing on energy storage as a distinct point of exploitation, and what form resistance to new regimes of energy storage would take.