Gravity storage for renewables

[ReinyDays]

Not every place has the land relief for pumped hydro. And the weights for that tower are in the tens of tons. Plus, there are many other methods of skinning this cat, including liquid air. Yes, just move the rods in and out. Nothing to go wrong. Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima. Nothing at all to go wrong.

Obviously the Western Interconnect has plenty of places for water storage ... and if you'll look, you'll see plenty of places in the Eastern Interconnect as well ... that just leaves the Texas Interconnect ... [giggle] ... and the operators there that haven't quite finished Middle School yet ... [stammer] ... any year now ... [busts out laughing] ... so Texas has their own special problems ...

Air liquefies starting at 90 K for oxygen, 77 K for Nitrogen ... more generally at 82 K ... about as close to -200ºC as to make no difference ... how does this keep us from needing to burn fossil fuels? ...

And the weights for that tower are in the tens of tons.

Jesus fucking Christ ... that's insane ... we dig 10 meter deep pits and fill it full of concrete for a footing on towers designed to hold a half-ton of microwave antennas ... you want a tower that can hold up a fully laden semi-truck? ... in a wind storm ... it can be done, but at what price? ... go ahead and find me a tower holding up "ten's of tons" in addition to itself ... note especially the "footprint" it makes with the ground ... including guy-wires ...

Towers would be a waste ... better would be sliders down a mountain slope ... easier to build, easier to maintain, safer in a wind storm ...

Easier still is to learn to use less energy ...

 

[Old Rocks]

Obviously the Western Interconnect has plenty of places for water storage ... and if you'll look, you'll see plenty of places in the Eastern Interconnect as well ... that just leaves the Texas Interconnect ... [giggle] ... and the operators there that haven't quite finished Middle School yet ... [stammer] ... any year now ... [busts out laughing] ... so Texas has their own special problems ...

Air liquefies starting at 90 K for oxygen, 77 K for Nitrogen ... more generally at 82 K ... about as close to -200ºC as to make no difference ... how does this keep us from needing to burn fossil fuels? ...

And the weights for that tower are in the tens of tons.

Jesus fucking Christ ... that's insane ... we dig 10 meter deep pits and fill it full of concrete for a footing on towers designed to hold a half-ton of microwave antennas ... you want a tower that can hold up a fully laden semi-truck? ... in a wind storm ... it can be done, but at what price? ... go ahead and find me a tower holding up "ten's of tons" in addition to itself ... note especially the "footprint" it makes with the ground ... including guy-wires ...

Towers would be a waste ... better would be sliders down a mountain slope ... easier to build, easier to maintain, safer in a wind storm ...

Easier still is to learn to use less energy ...

Sheesh, I haven't been that hard on Texas. Well deserved, however. Now you objections to gravity tower storage is founded. However, it is just one of many ideas for energy storage. Economics will shake out the ideas that are not feasible. However here is a the idea concerning liquid air storage.

 

[Muhammed]

Another way to skin the cat.

What's going to happen to that high looming tower of blocks when there's a massive earthquake? It's going to topple.

Seems to me that they could use a much more inherently stable structure with a lower center of gravity.

There are pyramids in very seismically active locations that are still standing after thousands of years. The fact that they are still standing after several millennia is a testament to their structural stability.

And pyramids are aesthetically pleasing to the eye. They are not eye sores. They are beautiful.