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Cheaper Energy From Caverns of Compressed Air

Posted by samzenpus on from the fine-until-the-earth-burps dept.

An anonymous reader writes "By using the Earth's vast underground caverns to store compressed air generated by wind farms at night, several U.S. municipalities will be 'going green' by using that stored energy to generate daytime electricity on the cheap. Engineers at a National Lab think compressed air stored in underground caverns could cut in half the cost of electricity."

17 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. vast? by Ydna · · Score: 4, Funny

    Earth's vast underground caverns? Oh please. If scientists actually tried doing this, it would surely bring about the end of life as we know it. The atmosphere would all be sucked up into these vast caverns leaving nothing but a vast vacuum on the surface. No, thank you!

    --

    "The great thing about multitasking is that several things can go wrong at once." -me

    1. Re:vast? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      That's my colon you insensitive clod...

    2. Re:vast? by w0mprat · · Score: 5, Funny

      Your right, such a project would produce unacceptable levels of vacuum emissions into earths atmosphere. But this could be a good thing!: Production of Vacuum tubes and Cathode Ray Tubes in the 20th century used up all the easily available vacuum on earth (mined from the air which contained precious little vacuum! - bringing it down from space is not cost-effective!) humanity had to make do with the transistor and now we have to change to LCD screens since CRTs are no longer profitable to manufacture. But this could change things!

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    3. Re:vast? by srjh · · Score: 5, Funny

      You'll also need to purify the dirty vacuum that is present in the earth's atmosphere.

      I suggest a vacuum cleaner for the task. (ducks)

    4. Re:vast? by PHPfanboy · · Score: 4, Funny

      And this is why I have applied for a job at NASA. Think of all the vacuum we could mine from space!!! (Space is also very big but we'll make sure we get mines near to earth, to reduce our transport costs and make it cost effective)

      We'll make a fortune selling vacuum to store in caves and then once we've sold to local authorities and energy companies we can sell to homeowners "A Vacuum for Every Yard" and then as the market becomes educated we can crack the enterprise and SMB market with "A Vacuum on every Desktop".

      P.S.
      I first got the inspiration for this awesome business opportunity idea from the documentary movie "Spaceballs".

      --
      29 mpg. YMMV.
    5. Re:vast? by TropicalCoder · · Score: 2, Funny

      If we could find a way to compress the vacuum to a tiny fraction of its normal size, we could put it in little containers to power a vacuum cleaner. Imagine then - a "green" vacuum cleaner that runs on cans of this compressed vacuum instead of electricity! Instead of plugging in your vacuum cleaner, you just stick in a new can of highly compressed vacuum before you begin to clean the house.

  2. I don't believe it... by AlienIntelligence · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think those guys are full of vast hot air.

    --
    For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion
  3. Kubla Khan by lazyDog86 · · Score: 5, Funny

    In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
    a stately pleasure dome decree
    where Aleph, the sacred river ran
    down to caverns measureless to man...
    from memory, apologies to Coleridge

    Those words were famously written after an opium-induced hallucination, as was this plan

    --
    my insights may be modded Funny, but at least some of my jokes are modded Insightful
  4. Flatulence by riceboy50 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, I keep a lot of compressed air in my cavern. It's so powerful that sometimes I can't contain it any longer and it escapes. /ducks

    --
    ~ I am logged on, therefore I am.
  5. Re:How Efficient is It? by AlienIntelligence · · Score: 1, Funny

    /me runs off to patent 'Cavern Glue!'

    Cavern Glue...! Do you have a leaky Cavern?
    Try Cavern Glue!
    It fills gaps! Cavern Glue!
    It seals openings! Cavern Glue!
    Cavern Glue! will make your Cavern impermeable or your money back!*

    *Cavern Glue! guarantee does not apply to Helium and
    other certain Noble Gasses. Please see website for list
    of gasses excluded. Core samples must be submitted
    with claims.

    [Rule of seven =) ]

    --
    For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion
  6. Untapped reserves by KlaymenDK · · Score: 4, Funny

    Production ... used up all the easily available vacuum on earth (mined from the air which contained precious little vacuum! - bringing it down from space is not cost-effective!)

    Oh, come off it. There are still plenty of untapped vacuum sources around.

    There's about of cubic foot of the stuff in any PHB cranium, you just need to open the thing and tap it! Granted, you'd need quite a bit of source PHB, but that's easy enough to come by -- and it's renewable.

    --
    "Good news, everyone!"
    1. Re:Untapped reserves by doug · · Score: 2, Funny

      You're right that the transportation costs are low, but the mining costs are prohibitive. Those PHB skulls are so dense, so they chew up the drill bits like there's no tomorrow.

      I believe that they are more effective as the power source for air turbines. Harnessing all that hot air that they produce to spin a turbine should generate countless megawatts. And it might justify some of the meetings that I've had to go to.

      - doug

  7. Re:How long will it last? by dsvilko · · Score: 2, Funny

    You mean cave-outs.

  8. Hmmm by bagsc · · Score: 3, Funny

    Why not just put carbon dioxide down there, and burn more coal?

    --
    http://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
  9. Re:Why air? by jollyreaper · · Score: 3, Funny

    Easy:

    1/ Lift musical instrument high into the air.

    2/ Let go.

    3/ Viola - energy from gravity!

    Corrected.

    --
    Kwisatz Haderach
    Sell the spice to CHOAM
    This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
  10. Re:How Efficient is It? by Anomalyst · · Score: 2, Funny

    We don't cache energy in your toilet, please don't pee in our pumped storage.

    --
    There is no right to feel safe thru security vaudeville at the expense of everyone's freedom, privacy and tax money.
  11. Re:Caverns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Nah. The Earth lights it farts and we call them volcanic eruptions.