3 ms·
The problem being solved is the bursty nature of green energy, we are trying to store solar energy generated during the day for usage at night or store excess w
by Ensorceled 6y ago
The problem being solved is the bursty nature of green energy, we are trying to store solar energy generated during the day for usage at night or store excess wind energy for still days.
We are not trying to transfer green energy to less windy/less sunny places, the grid can take care of that.
- fastball 6y agoRight, but in that case you'll get way better efficiency out of pretty much any other proposed solution: gravity, momentum, battery solutions are all more efficient than this for storing energy from renewables.
- wcarron 6y agoBatteries are expensive. Iron is abundant and cheap, and these seem much less difficult/costly to build than to create a dam, for example. It also seems like it can make use of existing infrastructure and save money there.
- fastball 6y agoI don’t think the expense of other solutions justifies the abject inefficiency of this one though.
- chongli 6y agoYeah, or in the article’s case (where you’re brewing beer), you might as well use a solar furnace to boil water directly with sunlight. You’ll have a hard time beating that efficiency with other methods. If you have huge water storage tanks anyway then keeping the water hot overnight is not a problem either.