Powering up: UK hills could be used as energy 'batteries'

[Jethro_uk]

Hmmmm

Quite aside from containment issues, and the amazing ability of water to harbour nasties, imagine it freezing .....

[The Natural Philosopher]

well you put it in a plastic cylindrical tank with an air gap for expansion surround it with insulation and feed it with electricity to make sure it doesn't freeze and it is sealed and filled with the equivalent of fernox to stop it being a life support system.

It is what is generally called a 'heat bank' just done bigger. Could be in your loft...

[Jethro_uk]

A few tonnes of water in your loft. Wouldn't worry me ....

[Tim+]

So pump storage doesn?t exist? Admittedly only any use for short term grid fluctuations, but that was what I was talking about.

Tim

[Tim+]

Surely better *under* your house if you want a decent size store?

Tim

[Clive Arthur]

<snipped>

I wonder how large a clock spring would have to be to store 24.5 GJ - they're pretty efficient. Would it fit in the same volume as the tarn-battery discussed?

Genuine question, not a wind-up.

[Vir Campestris]

Two thoughts:

- Walls that thick are going to use quite a bit of extra land

- Isn't there a teeny issue with fire?

Andy

[Jethro_uk]

and ? Plenty of land in the UK. Don't fall for this myth that we are in any way overpopulated ...

- Isn't

No - it's fire resistant.

[Tim Streater]

And it's all in use, and yes, we are overpopulated.

[Fred]

Bullshit.

Bullshit.

And you are free to top yourself any time you like.

[Tim Streater]

It's that Woddles again.

[Tim Lamb]

Three thoughts if you include providing excellent homes for Mice and Rats:-)

[The Natural Philosopher]

that's why I said 'could' Obviously in a new build you stick it under ground

[Vir Campestris]

England's population density at 432/sq km is 33rd in the world, and only just behind India.

If you ignore the city states like Singapore it's 8th of the countries with over 10M.

The UK as a whole is 16th. There's a lot of empty Scotland and Wales.

France has well under a 3rd of the density of England.

That's a surprise to me. Our roof is made of the same stuff, and we have to be _very_ careful. No wiring in the loft, for example.

Andy

[John Rumm]

Am I the only one now thinking about the Fred Dibnah's arrangement with self counterbalancing milk churns on a cable for getting stuff down from high chimneys?

[Steve Walker]

Now you've got me thinking about "Murphy and the bricks".

[Jethro_uk]

I often wonder how efficient you can make a circular transport like that. Like lifts in buildings that should need hardly any energy if the lift+load is never much more than lift+counterweight ....

[Tim+]

Well, the Falkirk Wheel boat lift is reputed to use no more than an electric kettle (3kW say) to lift a load of 500 tonnes.

Tim

[Jethro_uk]

It's on a very long list of things to see before I die ...

Pretty certain I read that Tower Bridge was operated with a gallon of water or something similar ...

[Andrew]

I must have missed that, but I remember Hoffnungs brickie lament