this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2024
1658 points (96.0% liked)

Solarpunk

5520 readers
52 users here now

The space to discuss Solarpunk itself and Solarpunk related stuff that doesn't fit elsewhere.

What is Solarpunk?

Join our chat: Movim or XMPP client.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 18 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

Yes this exists and it's called pumped storage hydroelectricity

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I did some work at a place called The hollow mountain that does this. But seeing as it looked like an underground James Bond bad guy base and I was a rope access mook in a boiler suit, I felt like I could die at any moment by tuxedo clad hero.
It wasn't solar they used to power pump the water back up though. They just, hmm I want to say, bought cheap electricity when no one was using it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

This is the imperial base from Andor, right? Cool

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Holeey sheet it is! I didn't know that! Thanks.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

With an energy conversion efficiency of usually 75 to 80 % they are really efficient and don't have as much energy loss as other types of energy storage. It's a simple, but powerful concept and I find it beautiful. However, there is some concern regarding their impact on the local ecosystem. Not only do they need huge water reservoirs, which are artificially created and therefore might impact nearby rivers and even fish migration, but the way they are sealed with concrete or asphalt also disallows the development of riparian vegetation. From an ecological perspective they are basically dead zones.

Still, considering several alternatives, I think it's one of the better options. Although it's not cheap to build those, which is a problem in our current capitalitic society