this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2025
67 points (68.5% liked)
Technology
61300 readers
2566 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related content.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I would prefer to use energy rather than store it, but yes, pressure vessels are preferable to chemical batteries.
Yeah, that's probably true. I was mainly being silly and making a factorio reference. On the other hand, with the intermittent/cyclical nature of renewable energy, I don't think it's unreasonable to look into ways to store it for times when demand outstrips supply. Maybe there's something I'm missing? I'm not an expert in energy grids or anything.
Yours is the third reply to me that makes a Factorio reference over the past month. I didn't realize it was a game until yesterday. I guess I should give it a try.
You're correct that intermittent power from wind and photovoltaic solar needs to be managed somehow. There are certain energy intensive, productive processes that can be conveniently ramped up or slowed down to meet this requirement. I just think such a system would be more responsible and less exploitative than building these massive battery facilities for speculating on the electricity supply.
Your half-joking idea of converting excess electricity to steam makes sense because steam is itself a useful product that's needed for heating buildings as well as various industrial processes. Converting it back into electricity isn't ideal, but that's all you can do with a chemical battery in comparison.