How Edison uses water to store excess power
This is a good one, how do you store excess energy for use when needed? I think their biggest flaw is they are using an open source to provide the water, which is subject to drought and evaporation. Something with a large cavern that is closed would seem much more efficient, and if it is a closed system, it should not have any losses that amount to much, thus being available in all situations. But this is a Galt like opportunity for some genius, they are exchanging electric for mechanical and back, the storage is based on the energy needed to pump back up. Something like a cascade with centrifugal pumps with a final stage lifting back might be better....Hnm..needs some math here..
For solar and wind generation, the problem of 24 hour cycles or random wind would be much reduced with storage of that type..
It could be that the research funds (government money) go to the best propagandists who are always on the verge of a breakthru, rather than the more prosaic searching for suitable geological sites.
Or, it could be that these so-called renewable sources are not close to being economic even if cheap storage worked.
Worth a mention here - George Soros has just made a very big investment in US coal mines. !
Limiting the amount of new plants and making it more expensive for new companies to get into the industry are generally financially positive effects for those already dominating the industry. Soros undoubtedly knows this.
And that is before taking into account a variant of "too big to fail". If the new restrictions were to be leveraged against the big players (now "stronger" an more politically powerful thanks to keeping competition out) in coal there would undoubtedly be government subsidies to help transition to the new standards instead of outright plant shutdowns.
Crony capitalism: not just for Republicans.
On the other hand, if there was one industry which, if it shrugged, truly could stop the engine of the world - or at least of America - it would be coal. Imagine: "In order to meet the increasingly draconian restrictions, we're just going to shut down power plants until we hit those levels. In fact, because we care so much, we'll just shut them all down. We hear there are some nice wind and solar farm to west, enjoy your 'clean energy'"
Now how does the economy look?
Not sure how you could use deep mines or caverns. It relies on gravity to work.
The future of power is a smart grid with intelligent, 2-way communicating, microinverters connected to distributed PV generation, in conjunction with distributed storage also with smart microinverters. See Hawaii as the most advanced test bed on this. Good stuff.
http://www.tva.gov/sites/raccoonmt.htm
-- j
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Compressed air also works, but is less efficient round-trip.
Oppenheimer's, Rutherford's, etc. to expand on what they have already discovered, to get us energy independent and practically free around the world? How long will this take? What new things will we fight about after we're there? If scientific history was studied as bad as political history and history of mans wars, we might still be living in caves.
Low speed water pumps have efficiencies on the order of >80%. Even ship propellers with poor inflow and compromised blade designs are 65%. Losses in the fluid circuit will add to the total cycle, but nothing like 70% losses.
http://www.pumpsandsystems.com/topics...
Oh, the tribulations of a degree in physics!
:-)