3D Printed Machine Stores Wind Energy via Gravity

[Eddie]

A man who we have talked before named Mr. Blakemore has created a 3D printed device that takes wind power and stores it in gravity. This device, while very small, probably can't provide for very much use, but if it is scaled up it could become quite the revolutionary energy collecting and storage device. The design for it has been open source and made available for all to download. Read and see more at: http://3dprint.com/87346/3d-printed-...nergy-gravity/

[curious aardvark]

very clever.
When they eventually get round to properly implementing wind power, it will make a significant difference at the moment any spare power is wasted.

So many ways they could store excess energy and and yet none of the big wind farm manufactuers do so.

Big weight pulled up inside the shaft could work. You can also use excess energy to crack water into hydrogen and oxygen. You could use it to pump water for hydro-electric installation.

But for some bizarre reason people seem to want nuclear.

[awerby]

Don't you know how dangerous gravity is? Think of how many more people have been killed by the effects of gravity than have been killed by nuclear explosions or radioactivity. Fortunately, Plutokin and Tomarin are ready and willing to combat the evil forces of gravity, and save the day for clean, safe nuclear energy: http://altjapan.typepad.com/my_weblo.../yo-nukes.html

[LambdaFF]

Actually the Swiss have been doing that for years, you know ?

They use wind/solar energy to pump water to high altitude lakes and then use water barrages / turbines to get the energy back when needed. The overall efficiency is not fantastic but it stores energy quite well.

[Davo]

There are places in the US where they pump water up the hill at night, using electricity from the grid, and then flow it through a turbine during the day, feeding the grid. Costs are lower during off-peak hours, so they actually make money, even though they lose energy overall.