What’s next in energy science: From storing energy to governing it

作者：Sheng Li, Qingqing Yang, Siyou Xia, Zhibo Li, Haonan Gan, Kechuang Wan, Qingsong Wang, Jun Shen · 发表于：The Innovation Energy · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.59717/j.xinn-energy.2026.100143 · 研究领域：International Science and Diplomacy、Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics、Global Energy and Sustainability Research

Energy science is being reshaped by forces that extend well beyond the laboratory.The global energy system is undergoing a rapid and uneven transition, driven simultaneously by climate imperatives, geopolitical uncertainty, and structural changes in how energy is produced and consumed.Renewable electricity is expanding at unprecedented speed, yet its inherent variability places increasing strain on power systems that were historically designed for steady, centralized generation.At the same time, electrification is accelerating across transport, industry, and buildings, compressing decades of infrastructure evolution into a few critical years.In this context, energy storage has moved from a supporting role to a central pillar of system stability.Electrochemical storage now underpins the integration of renewables, enables flexible grid operation, and increasingly acts as the guarantor of reliability in a highly dynamic energy landscape.However, as storage technologies scale in size, density, and deployment, they expose a deeper challenge confronting energy science today: the transition from storing energy to controlling it safely and predictably.This shift marks a turning point.For much of the past three decades, progress in energy storage has been guided by a narrow set of performance metrics-energy density, power density, cycle life, and cost.These benchmarks have driven remarkable advances, particularly in lithium-ion batteries, but they have also obscured systemic vulnerabi...