Widening power shortages in China have halted production at numerous factories including many supplying Apple and Tesla, while some shops in the northeast operated by candlelight and malls shut early as the economic toll of the squeeze mounted.
How did china manage to get hit by power issues :sadness:
Or pump water uphill, then release that slowly to spin a turbine.
Some other, more gimmicky, options that don't use batteries include giant flywheels or moving a weight up a tower (or down a mineshaft) and dropping it slowly to run a generator.
Wait how would this work? I'm a dumbass but it seems to me like you'd need to expend the same amount of energy pumping the water uphill that you would get back from it flowing downhill. Pls explain
Right, and there is probably even some loss from the water potential energy conversion to electricity via the generator.
But it is a great way to store huge amounts of energy, instead of a huge number of lithium batteries. That way it can be used when solar/wind aren't producing energy
Or pump water uphill, then release that slowly to spin a turbine.
Some other, more gimmicky, options that don't use batteries include giant flywheels or moving a weight up a tower (or down a mineshaft) and dropping it slowly to run a generator.
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I've heard the flywheels are pretty okay. It really seems we need some more low-tech solutions to round out how we do energy tbh.
Wait how would this work? I'm a dumbass but it seems to me like you'd need to expend the same amount of energy pumping the water uphill that you would get back from it flowing downhill. Pls explain
Right, and there is probably even some loss from the water potential energy conversion to electricity via the generator.
But it is a great way to store huge amounts of energy, instead of a huge number of lithium batteries. That way it can be used when solar/wind aren't producing energy
Ah ok it's for storage, not generation. Now it makes sense, thank you