Horace wrote: <snip> > [snip] > >...compressors are much cheaper than electric generators, these wind farms > >should cost less.
A critical issue is efficient extraction of energy from the wind over a range of vind velocities. Such is accomplished by the current genration of wind tubines with the help of sophisticated electronics. The generator-electronic conversion link can be quite efficient. It is not obvious to me that a direct-coupled pump to an air liquefaction plant will be useful. Air is liquefied by multiple stage refrigeration. <sdip> Home heating efficiency and cost can be much improved by using wells for > thermal storage. Thermal wells can easily be "charged" using energy from > windmills or solar, or other means. Make that ponds, not wells. Some years ago. some office buildings near Princeton NJ were set up with thermal ponds which were supposed to store heat extracted by air conditioning in the summer and use it with heat pumps to warm the buildings in the winter. I have not heard if the project was successful. A well is essentially constant temperature and cna be used as a heat sink in the summer and heat source in the winter. Heat pump systems for houses are commercially available. Wells have their problems with corrosion. My cousin installed an air-based heating/cooling system for his well insulated house near Kansas City. It is on a farm and when built the utility brought in electric power form some distance expecting nice revenue. But the house is so well built that electcity use is well below the utility's expectation, which has results in a number of investigatory visits. Mike Carrell
