Everybody knows about electricity, even if all you know is that we use a lot of it.
Here’s the problem. We use a lot more electricity at two in the afternoon than we do at two in the morning. This means we need enough generators to give us the electricity we use during the day. At night, when businesses are closed and most of us are asleep, we use a lot less electricity and we need a lot fewer generators. But they’re still there and they’re not doing anything. That’s expensive and wasteful.
Power engineers think we can use some old technology to solve the problem. It’s called a flywheel, and the idea has been around a long time. Think potter’s wheel. The engine in your car has a flywheel, too. It stores some of the energy the engine produces to help it run smoothly, especially at slow speeds.
The new flywheels are really high-tech. And really heavy, more than a ton each. They spin on magnetic bearings. At twice the speed of sound. The idea is to spin them up when power demand is low and use the energy they store to turn generators when demand is high. That should help even out the load on generating systems.
Our flywheel is running down, and it’s time to leave. See you next time.
Image: Beacon Power
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Gene Charleton is a science writer at the Texas Engineering Experiment Station and Texas A&M
University in College Station, Texas. He’s been watching and writing about science and technology for more than 30 years. Engineering Works! was born in 2003
as a two-minute radio show on Texas
A&M University’s NPR outlet, KAMU-FM.
Tags: Alternative Fuels, Alternative Power Sources, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Green Tech
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