21 Nov Using Antifreeze and Salt to Create Electricity? Seems impossible
Google is a well-known company, each day we are using google search engine in order to find information we need. However, did you know that Google has a sister company that goes by the name of “Alphabet”. Company’s main portfolio revolves around deals with R&D and investments.
Alphabet has over 70.000 employees, and currently it is working on a project code named “Malta”. Goal of the project is to create renewable energy technology, which can produce pure energy, keep environment clean and at the same time store that very same energy much longer than lithium-ion batteries.
Prototype demonstration
Energy production and storage is an interesting process. As you can see from the picture above, the plant itself has 4 cylinders, two contain salt while other two contain antifreeze. In order to produce energy, you need something, and that something is rather simple: air. Cylinder with sault is heated, while antifreeze cylinder is cooled, that creates mixing of two air currents. Swift air currents that are byproduct of temperature difference turn on the turbine and in the process electricity is created. Energy created can be stored much longer than aforementioned batteries. Additional benefits of this innovation is related to size. Each power plant can be small or big, depending on the need that opens the space for cost-benefit investments. Of course, when we talk about new technology, cost-benefit is the name of the game. Companies such as Alphabet do not invest in any project unless there is a clear return of investment. The renewable energy market is estimated to be worth around 30. billion dollars. Clearly there is a huge potential for money to be made.
We as consumers should be happy, because this innovative Alphabet technology only means one thing, cheap electricity!
We will keep our fingers crossed for this idea to work!