3 ms·
It may also be that solar, wind, and geothermal will also have similar cost integrations over time, but it seems less likely. Some of the storage technologies
by CountSessine 7y ago
It may also be that solar, wind, and geothermal will also have similar cost integrations over time, but it seems less likely.
Some of the storage technologies associated with solar will almost certainly have huge death tolls associated with them. There's been a proposal that we stack large blocks of concrete into towers with cranes to store solar energy. But this is basically a construction site. We can pretend otherwise, but with cranes and heavy blocks of concrete, it's hard to call this something other than a construction site. Workers and site managers in modern construction sites in developed countries are almost fanatical about safety, and yet accidents happen and people die. And these storage sites would be larger than the cities they supply back-up power to - they would be the largest construction sites ever built.
- bronson 7y agoWhat you’re saying may or may not come true one day but it’s not on anyone’s road map today. Your last sentence veers into science fiction.
- CountSessine 7y agoThe future is now! https://qz.com/1355672/stacking-concrete-blocks-is-a-surprisingly-efficient-way-to-store-energy/ https://qz.com/1355672/stacking-concrete-blocks-is-a-surpris... All of the technology surrounding solar storage is science fiction right now - we have lots of things working at a nano-scale. And every one of them has problems when we imagine using them to store nation-sized power. If stacking blocks of concrete is what prevails, then of course we need to compare the death tolls from that to what we see with nuclear and other technologies.
- bronson 7y agoA 20-meter-tall, single-armed crane is the future? According to your article, that’s all that exists now. So, again, maybe or maybe not. You have a long, long way to go first.
- pfdietz 7y agoPumped hydro is science fiction? No.
- mimixco 7y agoI believe Spain has working salt storage for solar power at commercial scale.[0] [O] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Spain https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Spain