Before you start reading this blog, read the title again and think about how wind farms could be improved. Have you thought and known the answer yet? If so, let's move on.
The
past and future of electricity
Long ago, when technology was not yet well developed, electricity was usually drawn from coal. Many countries even now use the natural resources, for example Poland is the largest producer of hard coal in the entire European Union. Currently, it is changing along with the technological progress, but not only. Recently, a drastic drop in air quality has been noticed around the world due to the high amount of greenhouse gases, hence it was decided to counteract the dire consequences. Technological progress has developed and many countries around the world focus on ecological solutions, using renewable energy sources, such as geothermal, solar photovoltaic, and wind energy, which we will focus on in this post.
Wind
farms - how do they work?
Each of these turbines consists of a set of
blades, a box beside them called a nacelle and a shaft. The wind – and this can
be just a gentle breeze – makes the blades spin, creating kinetic energy. The
blades rotating in this way then also make the shaft in the nacelle turn and a
generator in the nacelle converts this kinetic energy into electrical energy.
So what happens next to the wind-turbine generated electricity next? To connect
to the national grid, the electrical energy is then passed through a
transformer on the site that increases the voltage to that used by the national
electricity system. It’s at this stage that the electricity usually moves onto
the National Grid transmission network, ready to then be passed on so that,
eventually, it can be used in homes and factories.
To learn a bit more, I invite you to watch the video below:
But
what to do when you need electricity and there is no wind?
The wind drives the propellers, the
propellers drive the turbines that generate electricity. Sounds like a perfect
idea. The problem, however, is that these power plants generate electricity
when the wind blows, not when there is a higher energy demand. Sometimes these
two periods do not coincide.
Therefore, the problem is to store the
obtained energy so that it can be used when it is needed.
Highview Power, a British
company, is the first in the world that wants to store energy in the form of liquid air.
We liquefy
energy
According to assumptions, Highview Power
will use the excess electricity generated by wind farms at night to compress
the air to the point where it liquefies at -196 degrees Celsius.
This compressed air will be stored in
special tanks that can be heated if necessary. As the air is heated, the air
will expand and as it escapes, it will drive turbines that will generate
electricity during periods of peak energy demand.
The originator of this method of energy
storage, Peter Dearman, argues that his idea has many unique advantages.
Contrary to batteries, it only requires tanks and does not require any minerals,
which sooner or later will be more and more difficult to access, especially
nowadays with the increasing popularity of electric vehicles.
The liquid air tanks under construction
will be able to store enough liquid air to supply 50 MW of power if necessary,
supplying 50,000 households. Unlike batteries, liquid air tanks are very
suitable for long-term energy storage and are much cheaper to maintain.
Questions:
- What is your answer to the title question and
introduction?
- What do you think about the Highview Power idea?
- What do you think about renewable energy? Do you
think this is a good or bad idea?
- Do you use or would you use renewable energy? If so, in what
way?
Sources:
https://highviewpower.com/technology/
Comments
Of course it could be better, there is always place for improvement. Kaizen method for the win.
2. What do you think about the Highview Power idea?
It sounds awsome.Being able to store natural energy is a good thing. Maybe one day we will be able to store energy from other natural sources and even amplify it.
3. What do you think about renewable energy? Do you think this is a good or bad idea?
It is the best idea. Other resources will be scarce one day or our planet will simple die out due to the way we acquire them. Renewable energy with good enough power makes it close to infinit at least in human lifespan view of course.
4. Do you use or would you use renewable energy? If so, in what way?
While I live in a flat it is hard to say if I use it because it is not my decision to make what is the source of electricty for the building. But I hope we all will be using it at some point in time.
I think that wind warms are an important pillar of collecting modern (renewable) energy, a lot of renawable energy soltuons are still quite new and there's deffenitely room for improvment.
2.
It's a good idea. The need for storing the collected energy was always a problem that wind or solar farms had to fact and the energy demand spikes were one of the reasons, why it couldn't be the only form of providing people energy.
3.
I believe that with the ever quicker changeing climate we as a species should agree in that topic and all try to be more ecologic. One of those things we could do is to use a electricity provider that uses a lot of renewable energy sources.
4.
I'm not sure if the electicity provided to my shared appartment is coming from a renewable source. The only thing I can think of right now is that when commuting in the city I tend to use my bike, which doesn't use any energy that would need to come from traditional energy sources, like gasoline.
The means to accumulate green energy are one thing, but storing them in order to provide a constant energy supply is an entirely other topic, but equally important.
2. I think it is really clever! I’ve heard before about storing energy by pumping water up or storing rock blocks at a high altitude in order to release the energy later by letting them down. But this idea is even more interesting, as the energy is being released and captured again the same way as originally (wind turbines). So it makes a perfect circle 😊
3. I think it is good as long as the materials used to produce the equipment used to capture the energy are also green.
4. I do not use it, as I am getting my electricity from a city power grid. But I frequently rent electric cars to move around the city.
I don't believe in renewable energy at this point, there are better power sources, but if someone will improve this technology then it'll be worth considering.
2. What do you think about the Highview Power idea?
Well, I guess it's a good thing. I am no expert in this topic, but as you pointed out in your article wind energy had problems with energy storing, so it solves it.
3. What do you think about renewable energy? Do you think this is a good or bad idea?
As I said before I think that ,at this point, renewable energy isn't worth effort to invest in it. I mean the costs of building solar, wind, water etc. power plants are to big comparing it to energy that they will produce. Besides you also have to have a good location for this kind of power plants. For example solar plant in Poland will not produce much energy becuase the sunny days in Poland are rare, and it don't produce that much energy when there is no sun. So I think that this technology has to be developed more to use it.
4. Do you use or would you use renewable energy? If so, in what way?
I won't use even if I wasn't living in a flat. It's a waste of money.
2. I believe that the solution created by the British company is brilliant. The possibility of storing energy and using it during wind scarcity is beneficial for everyone, especially taking into account low cost and no use of mineral resources. I hope that the presented ideas will be used in more and more projects.
3. I believe that obtaining energy from renewable sources is a very good idea. Obtaining energy in this way is safe for the environment and we do not use raw materials on the ground, so we will never run out of renewable sources. Non-renewable energy sources were very important while our civilization was not developed enough and did not have the technology to obtain energy in other ways, but since we can do it, we should increase the share of obtaining energy from renewable energy sources.
4. So far I am not using energy from renewable sources, at least not consciously. In the future, I plan to have solar panels and obtain energy from sunlight. I believe that the use of solar panels is now available to anyone who would like to start acquiring energy on their own.
2.I'm not interested in producing and storing energy, but it sounds amazing. If wind farms have a problem with storing energy this would be a great solution.
3.This is the best idea in our time. The use of renewable energy sources is the future of the planet. Our natural resources are not infinite and, in addition, using them destroys our planet. Renewable energy sources is the direction in which we should go and constantly develop
4.If I ever have my own house, I plan to build a network of solar panels on the roof. It will save me money and it will be better for the environment.
Generally speaking everything can be improved. Sticking to the wind energy topic maybe not only in efficiency aspect but for me some aspects like generated noise, safety and some other aspects are also pretty important here. As we can see on TV or some articles on the internet there are often some informations about some unhappy/upset people because some wind farms was built in their neighbourhood. People often complain about noise levels - especially specific (maybe irritating) sound generated by wind turbines while they are working hard. Sometimes it's hard to place wind farms in depopulated areas. In my opinion some steps should be taken here to make wind turbine farms more friendly to the people which lives near them.
You also mentioned about British Company Highview Power idea. For me it's brilliant idea - possibility to store energy obtained from wind, and use it some time later is genius. The only question that comes to my mind is about how cost effective it is.
According to your question about my opinion on renewable energy - I think it's in general good idea, until the costs of running/preparing are not too high and ammounts of produced energy are significant.
Yes, I'm currently using renewable energy. We have some solar panels installed and it's pretty convenient, and environment friendly I believe.
That's nice that you travelling by bicycle, it's ecological :)
In addition, you mentioned that you will use solar panels in the future home. Are you aware of their assembly and installation costs and all procedures?
You are currently using solar panels ... Due to the fact that you are ecological, have you thought about other ecological solutions that you could use at home?
We were also considering installation of the heat pump at our property. Heat pumps are also quite effective, but we still have some doubts and are not ready for that yet.
Of course it could be "better". Everything can always be better... :) The question of how people will be able to improve it. The more science, the more development, so it is worth investing in development to improve efficiency so that it is "better".
2. What do you think about the Highview Power idea?
It seems to be an incredibly interesting idea, and I also hope that it will be able to be implemented in everyday life. The natural energy that we store without polluting the air and the environment is a good direction.
3. What do you think about renewable energy? Do you think this is a good or bad idea?
It is worth using natural sources of energy. Of course, each can be called "natural", because they are not from outer space ... :)
I mean those that save the environment and are definitely healthier for people and the entire ecosystem. At a time when there is a lot of talk about poor air purity and global warming, such a solution seems to be the only right one.
4. Do you use or would you use renewable energy? If so, in what way?
I have no direct contact with renewable sources so probably don't use but would like to...
2. I think it's a great idea based on arguments presented in the post, one might think there are no drawbacks. It's cheaper and more effective than other ways of solving the main problem of wind energy, it seems that there is no reason to not implement it right now. Of course, I assume there are some technical/legal aspects of it that need to be ironed out, but once that's done I'd say we're looking at a bright future for renewable energy sources.
3. I think it's our only real choice considering that climate change is getting progressively worse due to our use of conventional, fossil fuels. If we do not use alternative energy sources soon we might live in an arid wasteland only to die shortly after.
4.Unfortunately no. As I'm living in a flat in a building, powering my home without use of city power grid and energy companies using fossil fuels would be extremely hard if at all possible. However, if there would be an alternative energy company or a fundraiser to get clean energy from other sources I'd gladly choose it or donate.
I think that any type of green energy is great and should be promoted and developed if the development costs could be skyrocked by its impact in the fututre.
What do you think about the Highview Power idea?
As any of it type it's really great and needed idea and I really appriciate that there are such iniciatives.
What do you think about renewable energy? Do you think this is a good or bad idea?
It is great - its free, it has low impact for our enviroments so for the future so the main concept is fantastic but there are a lot of problems that needs to be solved - especially the one with storing energy but i would look optimistic for the perspectives. It is also the only way for our development as human beings
Do you use or would you use renewable energy? If so, in what way?
Yes, for now I am using solar panels to gather energy from the Sun not only at my homeplace but also in devecies I am desining and manufacturing - it is key aspect in terms of the whole device to make products better but with smaller impact to our World
2. This is a very interesting idea that could evolve into something really efficient in the future. If we do not start obtaining minerals from space, we will have to give up many of them.
3. Of course it's a good idea. We already have a problem with global warming, and it will only get worse in the future. However, we should now focus on nuclear energy, unfortunately we are not ready to use only renewable energy.
4. I live in a flat and I get my energy from the grid. I do not know where this energy comes from and what part of it comes from renewable sources.
With enough portion of passion and drive every invention can be improved. Actually that's what people are very good at. When we build something and it works, the next thing to do is to disassemble it and try to figure out how each detail can be improved.
That's the recipe for the most advanced technological solutions we have and hopefully more and more will be developed.
2. What do you think about the Highview Power idea?
I'm glad that effort is being put into improving wind farms. I remember that quite recently I was wondering whether this source of renewable energy can be more efficient.
Improvement designed by the Highview Power seems ingenious to me. I hope that no problems with this design will arise since it could stop introducing this solution to the real world.
3. What do you think about renewable energy? Do you think this is a good or bad idea?
It is definetly a good idea. During the era of rapid climate change, humanity has to think fast when it comes to finding new way of reducing greenhouse gases emissions.
Otherwise, environmental catastrophy will come inevitably.
4. Do you use or would you use renewable energy? If so, in what way?
I think that the building I live in is not provided with renewable energy. Quite frankly, it is hard to find multi-apartment buldings in Poland that use renewable energy since vast majority of our electricity is produced via coal burning. On the other hand, I have a friend that runs a business which assembles and mounts solar panels on people's houses, and he claims that recently he observed growing interest. I'm glad that awarness is coming to people's minds and they try to change something about their lives in order to mitigate the outcomes of global warming.