Re:Indefinite storage of solar power via MIT
by jcromartie on Monday November 08, 2010 @10:46PM
(#1885216)
How to store solar energy indefinitely: potential energy of an elevated mass. Done. Is it really that hard? Just use the solar energy to lift something really heavy, and then prop that thing up. It won't leak or discharge for a really long time, depending on what's holding it up.
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Re:Indefinite storage of solar power via MIT
by kragen on Tuesday November 09, 2010 @01:11AM
(#1885569)
Heavy things propped up generally have a very low volumetric energy density. Chemical fuels often have four orders of magnitude better energy density. Although I haven't read the original paper, it seems likely that this "fuel" is probably closer to the chemical-fuel ballpark than the propped-up-heavy-things ballpark.