# Can a simple brick be the next great battery?

- Institution: TED
- Department: TED Countdown Summit
- Speaker: John O'Donnell
- Year: 2023
- Level: For everyone
- Language: English
- Subjects: Earth and environment, Business and management
- Source: [TED](https://www.ted.com/talks/john_o_donnell_can_a_simple_brick_be_the_next_great_battery)
- Licence: [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) (Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions.)
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

The world relies on manufacturing, and manufacturing relies on heat — a massive contributor to global carbon emissions, responsible for a quarter of the world's fossil fuel use. Energy entrepreneur John O'Donnell has figured out a better, cleaner way to generate the heat we need to make the stuff we want. Learn how his team turned simple bricks and iron wire into a powerful, unconventional "heat battery" that could deliver industrial heat at scale without the emissions — and why he thinks electrified industrial heat is the next trillion-dollar industry.

## Lectures

1. [Can a simple brick be the next great battery?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/ted/john_o_donnell_can_a_simple_brick_be_the_next_great_battery/4aea4baa211b), 10 min (TED's player)