this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.
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Energy storage is THE issue…. You want to be a billionaire? Figure that out.
Pumped hydro, is great, but there are very few places where it is feasible
there are many nifty ways to do it. i like molten silicon for example https://silbat.com
but how about shift in perspective? if you want to get in on all renewable power source, maybe it's you who should adjust power consumption a little bit instead? fortunately most of energy used is used up for heating, and you can plug all excess energy into heater, store energy in big barrel of water for all your heating needs, and skim electrical power when available + maybe batteries as a higher priority
in some places energy for individual customer is cheaper at night, but the real deal is with large industrial power consumers, like arc furnaces or aluminum smelting plants. these things have special arrangements that allow grid operator to regulate some % of power in return for cheaper energy, either by remote control or on schedule. in principle the same thing could work for thousands to millions of water heaters, making it work like a large, one way "battery" soaking up peaks in energy production