Wouldn't it be totally amazing if we, you and I, could cure our energy depency woes?
A poet of engineered solutions with long vision and I talked about this just this afternoon. He's no ordinary guy. To his way of thinking, meeting energy demands without having to go very far from home is a "no-brainer...well, except for the big anchors of the Status Quo." I asked him about his startling conclusion. "Simple, " he told me, "ONE WORD...FLYWHEEL."
His "ONE WORD" brought to mind the pinwheels I used to play with as a kid. 
That couldn't be the solution ..." So I spun on over to Wikipedia. "Flywheel Energy Storage(FES) works by accelerating a rotor to a very high speed and maintaining the energy in the system as inertial energy. Advanced flywheels are made of high strength carbon-composite filaments that spin at speeds from 20,000 to 100,000 rpm in a vacuum enclosure. Magnetic bearings are necessary; in conventional mechanical bearings, friction is directly proportional to speed, and at such speeds, too much energy would be lost to friction."
That's a photo of one working at NASA (photo courtesy of Wikipedia)
I read on... " Quick charging is done in less than 15 minutes." AHA! I was starting to get his point. The problem with clean energy sources to date has been availability and how to store energy for use on demand. . Batteries have been the solution. But batteries are expensive. The average person looking at putting solar panels on her roof or in her garden could almost feel overwhelmed.
Now I can see where they would be perfect for the students who use this energy source out at Warren Wilson College where a group of interested real estate professionals spent the day not long ago. These students are living the dream as we soon found out. Led by representatives of Warren Wilson's Environmental Leadership Center, our group of REALTORS® working on ECO certification "got educated" in a "green walkabout" plus gourmet vegetarian meal. It was great to learn about the college's innovative green construction designs, the solar-powered golf carts used as maintenance vehicles and other sustainability initiatives.
Here's a photo of the solar-powered golf carts from my album. It was a hoot to watch the students tooling around in the vehicles. I don't think there was one of us who didn't want to hitch a ride. Yet, I had to wonder if this technology might be a bit out of the universe of discourse of the average home buyer.
But if I (if WE) could solve THE Energy Problem...wouldn't you and I give it a good try? ... So, let's take a closer look at Flywheel Technology...where the problem of energy storage is nil.
Problem solved ("except for the Status Quo"...)
Energy is stored by using an electric motor to increase the speed of the spinning flywheel. The system releases its energy by using the momentum of the flywheel to power the motor/generator. Dependable. Available.
Back to Wikipedia for some more information: "Flywheels are not affected by temperature changes as are chemical battery batteries, nor do they suffer from memory effect. Moreover, they are not as limited in the amount of energy they can hold. They are also less potentially damaging to the environment, being made of largely inert or benign materials. Another advantage of flywheels is that by a simple measurement of the rotation speed it is possible to know the exact amount of energy stored."
OK! I'm heading right on over to the nearest Flywheel energy storage company to do some first-hand research. Look for Part 2. And let me know what you think.
energy storage companies
- Active Power Inc. http://www.activepower.com/ ( "Flywheel Basics" )
- Beacon Power Corporation http://beaconpower.com/ ( "About Flywheels" )
- Pentadyne Power Corporation http://pentadyne.com/ ( "Flywheel FAQs" )
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