Big Drop Energy
39 Ways to Save the Planet - A podcast by BBC Radio 4
A big weight and a very, very deep hole. The team behind Gravitricity think they have found a solution to a serious problem with renewable energy. As we rely increasingly on wind and solar energy the risk rises of the lights going out when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine. We can solve the problem with energy storage but batteries are expensive and don't last very long. As Tom Heap and Tamsin Edwards hear, the answer could lie with a deceptively simple pulley system. Put an enormous weight at the bottom of a mineshaft. When you have lots of wind or sun, use the electricity to pull the weight to the surface. When you're short of power, release it and send a huge surge of energy back into the grid.
Producer: Alasdair Cross Researcher: Sarah Goodman
Produced in association with the Royal Geographical Society. Special thanks for this episode to Professor Stephen Peake from the Open University and Dr Hugh Hunt from the University of Cambridge.
