Tapping Subway Trains For Energy

An anonymous reader writes "Industrial flywheel manufacturer Vycon Energy believes that they can tap the immense amount of kinetic energy carried by moving subway trains to subsidize city power systems. Not only would this reduce emissions, but it would also help to avoid peak power emergencies. This energy could the be used to start the trains up again — a 10-car subway train in New York's system requires a jolt of three to four megawatts of power for 30 seconds to get up to cruising speed — that's enough energy to power 1,300 average U.S. homes."

Comments

Re:Isn't this an old idea?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's not what this is about. It's about putting flywheels in the stations themselves. The energy put back into the 3rd rail is usually wasted since it would require another train to be close to the train braking. Since most trains are guaranteed to stop in a station, absorbing the electricity put back into the rail could be stored for when the train starts. Batteries are insufficient, so they're using flywheels.

This exact same thing comes up every few years on Slashdot. Look it up if you don't believe me.

Re:Regenerative braking?

[Anonymous Coward]

6000 amps at 625 volts is EXACTLY what a subway train draws when it starts. I should know, I work for the Power department of the New York City Subway system.