Hey, look! An exciting article about energy storage technology! Graphene ultracapacitors, son! As the piece notes, these new doodads offer “double the capacity of existing ultracapacitors”, and “higher power capability” than batteries!
The article then goes on to discuss how off-peak power storage is a major problem facing renewable energy sources. Which is true! But of course ultracapacitors have absolutely nothing to do with solving that problem. Graphene-based ultracaps may be twice as good as existing ultracaps (although that leaves them lagging behind the still-maybe-not-imaginary EEStor offering). But a 2x improvement still leaves ultracaps capable of storing only about a fifth as much energy as a boring ol’ chemical battery. That “higher power capability” refers to the speed with which they can deliver or take a charge, not how much energy they can hold. For some applications that’s a crucially important attribute. Just not, y’know, the ones the article talks about.
As usual a misleading press release from a university (in this case: hook ‘em ultracapacitors!) has been gleefully adapted by a credulous reporter. Somewhere along the line a claim that this may solve our energy problems and/or cure cancer will invariably be added. The poor professors and grad students being given the credit for saving our society will have their quotes — in which they honestly explain the legitimately impressive but not immediately world-changing work they’ve done! — placed in a context that they must find deeply embarrassing.
My suggestion: get your tech news from MIT Technology Review and Ars. And if something sounds amazing, go find the associated Slashdot thread and read it. You’ll usually find at least a few surprisingly informative comments from engineers with expertise relevant to the alleged breakthrough.