Friday 2 December 2011

Alternative ways of storing electricity

For years the “approved” way of storing electricity was in a battery.  But when you think of it there is many other ways.  Sample you can store water that falls as rain now in a big dam and then later release it to generate electricity in a hydroelectric power plant.
Most fuels can be stored, and then used to create electricity as electricity is needed, think
The problem with batteries is that they are expensive, have small capacity, are heavy, take long to charge, and deteriorate quickly.

Most fuels can be stored, and then used to create electricity as electricity is needed.  Think power plant run on coal or turf, or diesel fuelled generator.
For a driving a car you can use electricity generate hydrogen and store that in a tank for driving it in a specially made car.  Here the problem is that the way of making hydrogen is very expensive and advanced and not very distributed.  IT will take a large investment to get an infrastructure going. 

We need to find a different way of storing electricity.  One company, currently not in the best of shape, has found a way.  Compressed air.   Since it’s already under pressure it can be used to drive a relatively normal piston engine without further pollution.  What you need is a suitably solid tank of some quantity.  The main advantage with it though is that compressed air can be created by the common compressor using electricity.  The compressor today is so common that most petrol station already have it.  Actually many car owners already have one at home to check their tyre pressure.  They can also be had so small that you can bring one around with you in the car so you could actually fill up your car using any electricity supply.  And it doesn’t take an age like charging a battery. 

I’m sure there is many alternative ways of storing electricity, or energy, that we will think off as soon as we start thinking outside the box. 

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