...because to me, it seems a simple idea.
Whenever I look at large above-ground water tanks or water towers, I wonder why wind and solar powered electricity isn't used to pump the water up into them, and hydro-electric plants put on the downspout side.
It should be a simple matter to build large elevated tank farms or a large above-ground water reservoir that stores massive amounts of energy in the form of elevated water - and converts it back into a steady flow of electricity from hydro-turbines on the release ducts. No batteries or fancy chemicals required, no hydrogen, nada. Just water, pipes, turbines, wind, and sun.
For that matter - why have batteries in cars? Why not induction circuits that pick up power from embedded circuits in the roadways? There would be no need for right-of-way for additional power lines, you already have it with existing highways. Let the power be in the roads - and the cars pick it up. if that won't work, put electromagnets in the roads and electromagnets in cars, small gas engines keep the magnets in the cars energized, but the magnets in the roadways provide most of the energy.
On top of that, why not use highway right-of-way to bury new transmission lines for the national power grid? We're always worried about how to implement grid connections from sparsely-populated but windy Western states to the Midwest, East Coast, and West Coast areas where real power demand is. Why not bury the lines under highways? They wouldn't be susceptible to weather, and you have to replace the highways every so often anyway. Why not dig a little deeper and put power-line tunnels under the highways? The Earth would shield a good bit from EMF leakage for those concerned about the health risks of EMF exposure. It'd be a win-win situation all around.
We need to re-think a lot about the way we handle power and transportation in this country. the concepts we're currently using date back over a century, after all.
Thanks for thinking about it,
Dan Stafford
A personal quest to promote the use of wind energy and hydrogen technology in the Great Lakes area of the United States. The Great Lakes area is in a unique position to become an energy exporting region through these and other renewable energy technologies. *Update 2014: Just do it everywhere - Dan*
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