3 ms·

The problem is storage.. what to do.. what do do with all this .. freeze the pumped water storage to horizontal glaciers?

cromulent 10y ago
Pump water uphill into a hydro dam is the typical case, I think.
chillydawg 10y ago
Melt very large vats of aluminium and then use that molten aluminium to boil water later on to drive some turbines. Pump water uphill into a reservoir or series or reservoirs. Produce hydrogen gas by electrolysis and sell it to fuel cell people. Charge very large arrays of batteries. I dunno.
- swampthinker 10y ago
  Unless there is some process I haven't heard of, one of those is not like the others.
- thescriptkiddie 10y ago
  Pumping water uphill is already in common use. Here are a couple of other ideas: Use electric cargo trains to carry many loads of gravel from the bottom of a mountain to the top. Dump the gravel out into a huge pile. Later, load the gravel back in the trains and regenerative brake all the way back down the mountain. Cut a large-diameter shaft into bedrock. Using the rubble from the excavation of the shaft as aggregate, pour a very heavy concrete piston that fits in the shaft. Pump water into the bottom to lift the piston, discharge pressurized water through turbines later. Compress air and put it in old natural gas wells. Discharge pressurized air through turbines later. Use a large heat pump to warm depleted uranium or similarly dense material in a large vacuum flask. Run the heat pump backwards (like a steam engine) later.
deleted 10y ago
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jseliger 10y ago
Storage is a problem; interestingly, I just read this piece: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/09/3775606/used-second-life-electric-car-batteries/ http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/09/3775606/used-sec... about using retired car batteries as storage. There aren't enough electric cars on the road to make this application widespread, but it may resolve some of the challenge over time.

cromulent 10y ago

Pump water uphill into a hydro dam is the typical case, I think.

chillydawg 10y ago

Melt very large vats of aluminium and then use that molten aluminium to boil water later on to drive some turbines. Pump water uphill into a reservoir or series or reservoirs. Produce hydrogen gas by electrolysis and sell it to fuel cell people. Charge very large arrays of batteries. I dunno.

swampthinker 10y ago
Unless there is some process I haven't heard of, one of those is not like the others.
thescriptkiddie 10y ago
Pumping water uphill is already in common use. Here are a couple of other ideas: Use electric cargo trains to carry many loads of gravel from the bottom of a mountain to the top. Dump the gravel out into a huge pile. Later, load the gravel back in the trains and regenerative brake all the way back down the mountain. Cut a large-diameter shaft into bedrock. Using the rubble from the excavation of the shaft as aggregate, pour a very heavy concrete piston that fits in the shaft. Pump water into the bottom to lift the piston, discharge pressurized water through turbines later. Compress air and put it in old natural gas wells. Discharge pressurized air through turbines later. Use a large heat pump to warm depleted uranium or similarly dense material in a large vacuum flask. Run the heat pump backwards (like a steam engine) later.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

jseliger 10y ago

Storage is a problem; interestingly, I just read this piece: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/09/3775606/used-second-life-electric-car-batteries/ http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/09/3775606/used-sec... about using retired car batteries as storage. There aren't enough electric cars on the road to make this application widespread, but it may resolve some of the challenge over time.