We can’t truly switch to renewable energy without a breakthrough. Subscribe and turn on notifications 🔔 so you don't miss any videos: http://goo.gl/0bsAjO In the past few decades, solar and wind energy have made remarkable progress; they're now satisfying significant portions of our energy demand. But there's a problem holding us back from relying on them even more: They can’t be stored very well. Solar energy is only generated while the sun is up, and wind energy while the wind is blowing. But our power grids are designed to respond to demand whenever it occurs. Even suddenly, as is the case with storms and heat waves. When solar and wind are not available and demand spikes, the power companies need to burn fossil fuels — particularly natural gas, because it can be stored easily. If we ever want a power grid that relies solely on solar and wind energy, we’ll need to come up with ways to store them. Luckily, experts and engineers worldwide are coming up with some genius plans. Watch the video above to learn more about how we might be able to store solar and wind energy and, finally, transition away from fossil fuels. Read Neel's article energy storage here: https://bit.ly/3oPWAFd For more videos on climate coverage, watch our playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ8cMiYb3G5dR1opfCsg8JmZSToyAWR5h Make sure you never miss behind-the-scenes content in the Vox Video newsletter, sign up here: http://vox.com/video-newsletter Vox is an explanatory newsroom on a mission to help everyone understand our weird, wonderful, complicated world, so that we can all help shape it. Part of that mission is keeping our work free. You can help us do that by making a gift: http://www.vox.com/contribute-now Watch our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE Follow Vox on TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@voxdotcom Check out our articles: https://www.vox.com/ Listen to our podcasts: https://www.vox.com/podcasts