- cross-posted to:
- hackernews
- cross-posted to:
- hackernews
"This giant bubble on the island of Sardinia holds 2,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. But the gas wasn’t captured from factory emissions, nor was it pulled from the air. It came from a gas supplier… “The facility compresses and expands CO2 daily in its closed system, turning a turbine that generates 200 megawatt-hours of electricity, or 20 MW over 10 hours.”



You understand this isnt about a new way to generate electricity right? This is about a new way to store it. The generation side of these is tiny and it’s a closed loop system. The CO2 is in a CLOSED LOOP system meaning its not going to be leaching into the atmosphere. The issue with many renewables is they can’t operate well in swings. Thats why electricity price is constantly fluctuating, because the demand is. So a sustainable way to store renewable generated energy will be able to accommodate those swings in demand in a way plain solar panels/wind/hydro alone can’t. The CO2 is likely harvested directly from the atmosphere. Once the battery has X amount of CO2 it no longer needs more because again, its a closed loop. Clearly you have issues politically with the company, that can’t be helped. But you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Edit- the CO2 COULD be harvested from the atmosphere using DAC. The currently used CO2 is coming from an unnamed company with no clearly stated source. Industrial CO2 mostly comes from the creation of hydrogen and ammonia, both chemicals we NEED to survive. The excess very pure CO2 from this process is the majority of what is considered globally as “industrial CO2”. So, a waste product is being used that would otherwise be released to the atmosphere, used in industry or stored.
What makes you think that? I just did a little googling and didn’t find a source that commercial co2 comes from the air. The best case scenario I found was it being a byproduct of other processes. Although I’m doing this on my phone so maybe I missed something.
A process called DAC (Direct Air Capture) is currently used on medium scale to do this. Other instances in which they obtain CO2 is by capturing byproduct of industrial processes (the biggest and most pure being from hydrogen/ammonia production) or power plants. Again though, and I dont think this is sinking in, it is a closed loop system. So, once enough CO2 is captured, thats all that battery will ever need. Its not using new fuel to create more co2 it’s taking a specific amount from currently available, filling the battery ONCE then process over.
yeah, sure thing buddy. the CO2 will be in a closed loop until it won’t. just like Fukushima and Chernobyl were supposed to be closed loop systems, until they weren’t. disasters happen, no matter how much the techbro mindset insists that they’re impossible.
LMAO, the audacity of telling me I don’t know how electricity generation works when you don’t even know how to read. they’re using industrial CO2 derived from fossil fuels
So you’re against nuclear power too? If that’s the case I’ll double down on my previous statements. Being anti nuclear is simply being dumb. Tell me about how CO2 is sourced and explain how you’re saying its being sourced by burning fossil fuels. What other industries use CO2 as part of process? Have you looked into CO2, how its captured, used and its necessity at all? Again, this is something I can tell you have a very surface understanding of with no problem being vocally ignorant.
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