I just returned from a month in France. Still plenty of single-use water bottles, but also water filling stations in every train station. I traveled exclusively by train -- most full, but if you missed your connection, there's be another train in an hour (or less) (if it wasn't full). US trains are a disgrace. But the most startling, or disturbing?, was the fact that the pilot pointed out the thousands and thousands of icebergs in the sea between Labrador and Greenland. He even dropped the plane 500 feet so we could all get a better look. Was I the only one on that plane to understand why there were so many icebergs?
The idea of batteries reminds me of my first year teaching at Flagler-Palm Coast High School in Florida: the somewhat unusual air conditioning system had been borrowed from nearby Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Electricity rates were much lower during night time hours, so the system used electricity then to create ice cubes. During the day the HVAC system blew air over the ice to cool it, rather than using a regular AC compressor system. The effect - cooler air - is exactly the same, but the rates for cooling are much lower than a system that produced cold air immediately. In effect, the ice behaved much like the batteries described here.
Along the shore of Lake Michigan there is a similar system: a huge reservoir that is several feet above the surface of the big lake. During times of low power usage, water is pumped to the higher level; when demand is higher, the flow is reversed and power is generated. (See "Ludington Pumped Storage Power Plant")
Both of the above cases - and of course the topic of the article here - indicate the myriad ways we can store energy for the short term. Such an ability to manipulate the ebb & flow of energy offers so many more options for power generation that we soon run out of excuses for continuing to burn fossil fuels because "gosh, the sun doesn't shine at night, and the wind doesn't always blow!"
The latest exciting storage strategy I've heard about is using old mineshafts surrounded by new renewable energy sources to raise and lower heavy weights! Typically abandoned mines have at least some of the utility connections needed to get juice to the grid, and in many cases they are situated within poverty stricken communities that would benefit dramatically from the jobs these energy storage facilities would create!
I just returned from a month in France. Still plenty of single-use water bottles, but also water filling stations in every train station. I traveled exclusively by train -- most full, but if you missed your connection, there's be another train in an hour (or less) (if it wasn't full). US trains are a disgrace. But the most startling, or disturbing?, was the fact that the pilot pointed out the thousands and thousands of icebergs in the sea between Labrador and Greenland. He even dropped the plane 500 feet so we could all get a better look. Was I the only one on that plane to understand why there were so many icebergs?
The idea of batteries reminds me of my first year teaching at Flagler-Palm Coast High School in Florida: the somewhat unusual air conditioning system had been borrowed from nearby Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Electricity rates were much lower during night time hours, so the system used electricity then to create ice cubes. During the day the HVAC system blew air over the ice to cool it, rather than using a regular AC compressor system. The effect - cooler air - is exactly the same, but the rates for cooling are much lower than a system that produced cold air immediately. In effect, the ice behaved much like the batteries described here.
Along the shore of Lake Michigan there is a similar system: a huge reservoir that is several feet above the surface of the big lake. During times of low power usage, water is pumped to the higher level; when demand is higher, the flow is reversed and power is generated. (See "Ludington Pumped Storage Power Plant")
Both of the above cases - and of course the topic of the article here - indicate the myriad ways we can store energy for the short term. Such an ability to manipulate the ebb & flow of energy offers so many more options for power generation that we soon run out of excuses for continuing to burn fossil fuels because "gosh, the sun doesn't shine at night, and the wind doesn't always blow!"
The latest exciting storage strategy I've heard about is using old mineshafts surrounded by new renewable energy sources to raise and lower heavy weights! Typically abandoned mines have at least some of the utility connections needed to get juice to the grid, and in many cases they are situated within poverty stricken communities that would benefit dramatically from the jobs these energy storage facilities would create!
If only someone could get the Mormon Church on board. And what about the Catholic Church? After Laudato si they would have to be!
That opening tribute was fantastic. The power of innovation.
Your readers might find this interesting:
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/are-e-s-g-investors-actually-helping-the-environment/