Saturday 29 March 2008

The man making 'wind bags'

Seamus Garvey wants to "store the wind".

He believes the future of energy is storing it as compressed air in giant bags under the sea.

And a major power company has invested in the scheme.

Professor Garvey, a long-time proponent of compressed air, feels vindicated by the research grant.

He said: "As the country and the whole world moves toward using more renewable energy, we're going to need energy storage."

His idea would utilise familiar renewable sources - wind, waves and tidal power.
But Professor Garvey does not believe we should be forced to "use it or lose it" when conditions are best.

Energy would instead be used to compress and pump air into underwater bags, anchored to the seabed.

When energy demand is highest, the air would be released through a turbine, converting it to electricty.

full article

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