Trapped Wind
We have all become accustomed to seeing those giant, silent wind turbines dominating the landscape; the Irish certainly have because they seem to be everywhere.
They are certainly unsightly, eerie even, but in my opinion necessary. Now the Irish want to harness all that wind-generated energy more effectively – why not find a way to store the energy generated by the turbines to be used at times when it is most needed rather than just throwing it into directly into the national grid?
Image via Wikipedia
Plans are afoot to use wind driven turbines to force compressed air into enormous, naturally formed caverns that lie beneath County Antrim, conveniently located near Ballylumford power station.
I don’t pretend to understand the technology, but Compressed Air Energy Storage schmes already exist in Germany and the USA where they are said to be effective in releasing energy into the national grid at times of increased demand. Reliance on oil and coal is reduced and a greener product can then be marketed.
That’s my kind of trapped wind. Maybe the next challenge should be to pretty up the wind turbines to make them more aesthetically pleasing.
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8 Responses to “Trapped Wind”
On March 3, 2009 at 3:10 am
thanks for the information. it’s useful.
On March 3, 2009 at 4:22 am
Interesting read!
On March 3, 2009 at 5:04 am
That’s fascinating! Thanks for the info — nicely written.
On March 3, 2009 at 5:44 am
I agree with the prettying them up! The idea is a good one. Good article.
On March 4, 2009 at 1:53 pm
The title had me! Good article, thanks for sharing.
On March 4, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Wind energy has always been a good idea, The image you included doesn’t look so bad to me… At least it looks (to me) in keeping with a rural aesthetic of the region. Have you seen the ultra-modern looking ones we erect in the U.S.? I think that would be worse.
On March 9, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Wow – what a great idea. There has been also a lot of work on compressed air motors for cars etc. This could be a direct feed into such a system.
On March 30, 2009 at 4:00 am
I love reading anything on alternative energies, I live for the stuff. I have spent nearly 10 years of my life trying to get the word alternatives written into our energy policy. Ultimately getting off of oil comes down to just words.
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