Re:Geothermal power is a climate moon shot beneath our feet
by regularfry on Monday March 03, 2025 @11:51AM
(#43243712)
Gravity batteries have horribly low energy densities. There's usually a better option.
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Re:Geothermal power is a climate moon shot beneath our feet
by ninalanyon on Monday March 03, 2025 @12:44PM
(#43244492)
I'd say that there is always a better option. Can someone point to a case where a gravity battery would definitely be better than all the alternatives?
Re:Geothermal power is a climate moon shot beneath our feet
by mnw21cam on Monday March 03, 2025 @01:14PM
(#43244837)
Pumped hydro is a form of gravity battery. It doesn't have great energy density, but it has fantastic power density and responsiveness. That's where its strength lies. We have also probably already built most of the ones that could possibly be built.
Re:Geothermal power is a climate moon shot beneath our feet
by igor47 on Monday March 03, 2025 @08:45PM
(#43249201)
Closed loop pumped hydro can be built anywhere there's a hill, there's tons of available expansion capacity there
Re:Geothermal power is a climate moon shot beneath our feet
by Animats on Monday March 03, 2025 @10:10PM
(#43249839)
There are 86 large pumped storage sites in the world. It does work, but you need the right geography.
You need two good reservoir sites at considerably different levels close to one another. That's somewhat hard to find.
Re:Geothermal power is a climate moon shot beneath our feet
by igor47 on Friday March 07, 2025 @11:47PM
(#43297578)
https://www.volts.wtf/p/whats-the-deal-with-pumped-hydro
David Roberts
Yeah, we have a lot of hills. And that's it. So, other than that, you could plop one of these down almost anywhere.
Erik Steimle
That's correct, yeah. You need some proximity, obviously, to transmission and load.