A tower of bricks could be the solution of renewable energy biggest problem.
During peak hours (especially mornings and evenings) the demand of energy is bigger. Renewable energies suppliers need to feed enough energy during these moments, so they need to have high technologies batteries that can store big amounts of energy. This graphic shows clearly the problem.
Graph from @solarquotes
As we can see, solar energy is mostly produced around midday but mostly demanded on mornings and evenings.
Brick time
Energy Vault a Switzerland and Californian based company may have a solution for that problem. Their solution is to store energy by gravity. An enormous 35-story tower lifts a series of 35 metric ton bricks when energy requirements are low, then drops them back to the ground. In this movement the machine stores potential energy on the brick and gets them back with kinetic energy with a generator, when energy requirements are high.
There is already one user of this technology “Tata Power”, an Indian electric utility. The prototype is 22 meters high. There are plans to make them 5 times bigger.
Take a look!
This way of storing energy works similar as a hydro plant but has a big advantage: No dam, hill or river required. This means no environmental damages. The bricks are made of landfill material, reducing the cost and environmental impact even further.
Energy demand keeps on growing year by year. These alternatives can offer simple and clever solutions for the future. Just piling bricks.
