311–320 of 325 posts
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The same company has actually done this[1] with the city of Toronto. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GicQwXbNnv0
The video is from 2015, and says it was a 2 year pilot project. Do you know if there are there any updates on how the project went? Is it still operational? Did they build any more?
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I think the comment is more about being easy to do incorrectly/dangerously. Pumping water up into a reservoir seems easier/safer.
You’ve picked the one that probably has the highest death toll worldwide!
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How do they avoid bacteria/mould from growing in tanks and flocking the pipes and releasing in the room? Do such systems ever get cleaned up?
The air in industrial pneumatic systems is filtered and dried, which would prevent these issues. Pneumatic systems often use small orifices and valves to control the air flow which would be quickly clogged by any debris, so cleanliness is important. An aside: PID control was, back in the day, mostly implemented in pneumatic control systems (using a set of levers, bellows springs and nozzles). Pneumatic control system…
Can someone explain why this is better than just using pumps to pump water up from the reservoir and extract the energy with when the water returned back?
It requires less surface area, both due to compressibility and due to hydrodynamics. Additionally, water is a strong erosion source, air is not, so this can make use of existing excavations much easier and deep excavation is very very expensive.
Can someone explain why this is better than just using pumps to pump water up from the reservoir and extract the energy with when the water returned back?
Pumped water only works if you have the right conditions. I.e. you need a certain altitude difference and enough space to have an upper and a lower water storage facility. Pumped water storage is very efficient and an established technology, so when it's possible it's a good choice, but it's not possible everywhere.
The energy is reclaimed when the pressure is released (i.e. water can fall back and fill the container).
How is the energy density different that what is provided by the water's static energy due to gravity?
Can someone explain why this is better than just using pumps to pump water up from the reservoir and extract the energy with when the water returned back?
not a lot of places have enough terrain to create a lake, plus in some places there's already shortage of water so removing it from usage would be pretty bad
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> one of the top contenders to watch is Form energy, which has a rust-based battery. Form is still in the cell prototyping stage, as best I can tell - maybe not even that. There's zero information on their website about where they are in the development process or really anything substantial about their design. ESS on the other hand has a design they've had out testing in the field for a couple years ( https://essinc…
Agreed that Form has lots of hype, but that's one thing that can be needed in addition to working tech. Utility decision makers are not the best at adding new tech to the grid or dealing with innovation. Having some big industry names and the support of the business press that the utility execs and shareholders read is it's own form of currency when dealing with such archaic businesses.
Form has no working tech, as evidenced by the total absence of any mention of it. No specs, no pictures, no test installations, no whitepapers, nothing.
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That article is from 2014. Since then we have deployed dozens of GWh of grid storage. There have been a few small fires, but otherwise it's worked out really well. Lithium ion on the grid is nearly doubling every year, and in places like Texas. I'm having trouble finding a recent article, but this one from 2020 has 3x as many battery GW thank gas GW in the interconnection queue: https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2020/09/08…
Just because something gets does doesn't mean it's sensible. That's like arguing coal is the future because China and India have brought online thousands of TWh since 2014. You did not actually address any of the points mentioned in the article explaining why Li-ion is not the go to solution for grid scale storage. Flow batteries have only become relatively cheaper since then btw.
1) li ion cost is at $150-$300/kWh today 2) these are for batteries that have warranties for 5000-7000 cycles, not the small number that the author got from a website 3) actual installation levels on the grid are far higher than the author estimated.
I have nothing against vanadium flow batteries, other than the aren't shipping much. If the can actually hit the $150/kWh mark they say they can in the article, they should be shipping a ton of batteries. And if they are shipping, they should publicize a bit more! California and other states are looking for non-lithium ion batteries with 8 hour+ duration, so there's a market for vanadium even if it can't compete on price.
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Yes, except with several orders of magnitude more energy and rotating mass. Wind turbine blades are engineered for minimum mass and inertia, are manufactured primarily from fiberglass and/or carbon fiber, are hollow, and the largest mass is in the center. In contrast, flywheels are engineered for the highest practical inertia, are manufactured from the highest density material that works, and concentrate that mass as…
[0] is a doctored video. Go frame by frame just before explosion and watch tracking of horses. [1],[2],[3] is real
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Yes, but air tools can be really nice to use,esp for grinding, cutting, sanding operations. For one, you can press/dig hard enough to bog or stop the tool and nothing hapoens - you just pick it uo and it speeds back uo again - do that with an electric tool and you'll have a dead motor paperweight real soon. Air tools can also be lighter and no worries abt damaging the cord or carrying the battery. Many good air tools…
I agree - air tools are awesome in some cases, although modern brushless tools are often competitive if not superior to air tools compared to how things were a decade ago. My complaint, really, is just how selfish it is to go out of your way to use a dirty energy source as a workaround for limits in your personal belief system.
And yes, using diesel to power your compressor on a regular (non-emergency) is more than a bit wasteful.
I totally get their insistence on staying off-grid, and it is good to read that they seem to be positive towards solar, so we can hope that takes over soon! From the bits I've read about their ethos, it certainly should have the advantage of further reduced dependency on outside systems, in this case, a one-off purchase of solar panels & kit will eliminate ongoing dependence on the entire fossil fuel supply chain.