IceBank – Storing Wind Energy As Ice
27 November 2009 | Green Technology | No Comments
People are always searching for more efficient and economical solutions, always trying to keep things simple but also with a thought on energy costs. From an early time, man used ice to keep their food cooled. The ice was collected at so called “ice harvesting” sites and was the only way to refrigerate food, until the discovery of electricity.
Today, engineers have found other uses of ice. The company Calmac, has developed a storage device called IceBank, which is supposed to work as a battery for wind power. This way, the energy from the wind generated in the night, which otherwise would go to waste, will be captured and stored in the form of ice. The ice, in turn, will be used by the air conditioning devices to cool the buildings during hot summer times, thus saving significative amounts of electrical energy and cutting costs by 20 to 40 procent, in the same time. During the process, source-energy consumption will be reduced by 8 to 34 procent, meaning fewer carbon emissions from the power plants.
This really makes for a good example where low-tech and rudimentary technology can have beneficial proprieties, even in this modern era we live in.
Tags: air conditioning device, Calmac, efficient, electricity, Green Technology, ice, IceBank, low-tech, wind, wind power