4 ms·
"The round-trip efficiency of the system, which is the amount of energy recovered for every unit of energy used to lift the blocks, is about 85%—comparable to l
by maxxxxx 8y ago
"The round-trip efficiency of the system, which is the amount of energy recovered for every unit of energy used to lift the blocks, is about 85%—comparable to lithium-ion batteries which offer upto 90%."
That's quite efficient. Maybe they can get creative and build something different every day. One day you get a big pyramid, the next day you get a big elephant. That would be quite entertaining.
- raverbashing 8y agoPyramids are probably the most effective to prevent it falling down because of wind gusts You still have to build a base, which stores no energy, and then plan for different storage amounts in different layers.
- RandomInteger4 8y agoWould wind gusts impart enough force to affect barrels / blocks of concrete?
- foota 8y agoIt'd basically be a skyscraper, and those certainly move in wind.
- dagss 8y agoSkyscrapers are hollow...
- Synaesthesia 8y agoThey’re also a lot stronger because of steel construction, often incorporating a solid core. I don’t think we can attain skyscraper heights with blocks of concrete but I may be wrong on that.
- csours 8y agoI think you've actually hit on the real selling point here - ADVERTISING! Think of it as a VERY slow, VERY large TV screen. With red, green, and blue blocks, they could advertise almost anything! The value generation from the ad would almost certainly outpace the value generation from energy storage! Also, you could encase your bitcoin wallet in a block, creating the ultimate block-chain block-chain! By god and the scientists, you're a genius maxxxxx!
- Lxr 8y ago> Think of it as a VERY slow, VERY large TV screen. With red, green, and blue blocks, they could advertise almost anything! I don’t think that works if the blocks are reflecting light rather than emitting it.
- csours 8y agoDon't worry we've already pivoted. We're no longer using concrete blocks, now it's giant LEDs.
- LanceH 8y agoUnfortunately we lost the entire first floor when we dropped a block and filled it in.
- TallGuyShort 8y agoAnd efficiency's down to 12% because of all the backlights for the ads and all the graphics chips got hacked and are mining bitcoin.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- kurthr 8y ago
- IshKebab 8y agoI'd put money on their 90% figure being theoretical. 95% efficiency for a motor and a generator with no other losses is at the edge of possibility.