Story

Grid-scale battery based on train cars and gravity

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So dry (Score: 2, Informative)

by fishybell@pipedot.org on 2016-05-01 20:49 (#1CEV7)

Interesting. It's essentially a dry version of an old technology. Quite likely cheaper and more environmentally friendly to boot.

Re: So dry (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org on 2016-05-02 23:02 (#1CJRH)

Plus you don't have to worry about the rail cars evaporating.

Re: So dry (Score: 1)

by olof@pipedot.org on 2016-06-15 07:09 (#1H883)

This seems like a very large investment for a very small gain.
Maintenance is not free, land is not free, having parallel tracks requiring weed control, etc.
Most areas don't have large areas of land available for free, especially those areas where people actually live.
Would be slightly impressive if the train cars actually went somewhere and transported something useful, like water.
Smarter electricity use and a better grid, capable of transferring power from where it is produced to where is it needed, would do the same more robustly, and probably cheeper too.

History

2016-06-15 07:09
This seems like a very large investment for a very small gain.
Maintenance is not free, land is not free, having parallel tracks requiring weed control, etc.
Most areas don't have large areas of land available for free, especially those areas where people actually live.
Would be slightly impressive if the train cars actually went somewhere and transported something useful, like water.
ASmarter electricity use and a better grid, capable of transferring power from where it is produced to where is it needed, and more wind and solar power would do the same more robustly, and probably cheeper too.

Junk Status

Not marked as junk