The Energy Vault is a Dumb Idea, Here's Why
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN cites it as the go-to debunk when gravity storage projects appear, usually by commenters who think the idea is a dud.
What it is
Adam Something argues in four minutes that gravity batteries like Energy Vault, which lift concrete blocks with cranes, are a poor energy storage idea. He draws on a longer Thunderf00t debunk.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2022 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Critical ncmncm · 2022-06 · on “If it isn't going to work, just shut it down”
[this video] [LINK] [LINK] Softbank invested. What else do you need to know? By contrast, this is not stupid: [LINK] They might still not execute well, but the idea is sound. What is different? They use a single weight, up to thousands of tons. It is suspended in a disused mineshaft, up to a kilometer deep, protected from weather. The one weight just goes up and down, i.e. it has just two moving parts, the weight and the winch. Winches are extra-mature technology. They are talking about sealing the shaft and compressing hydrogen into it. And, maybe storing heat there, besides. Both ideas are also simple, but they don't have to work for the product to be viable; if they do work, they add value. My
Critical toomuchtodo · 2022-07 · on “Datadog dashboard for the Texas power grid”
Not worth it, easier to scale up battery manufacturing (which the world also needs for all vehicles to transition to electrification). [this video]
Critical armada651 · 2022-08 · on “Researchers: World can reach 100% renewable energy system by/before 2050”
> But if you have an abundance of electrical power you can literally lift up concrete blocks with a crane and generate electricity by letting them down. That doesn't seem like the best idea if you think about it: [this video]
Critical smt88 · 2022-11 · on “A sand battery could transform clean energy”
This is a stupid idea, and there are some great YouTube videos that explain why[1]. tl;dr We already move enormous amounts of drinking water, and reservoirs are much better (and cheaper) candidates for batteries than sand/cement/etc. 1. [this video]
Critical donquichotte · 2024-02 · on “Europe's deepest mine to become giant gravity battery”
My thoughts exactly. It makes the engineer in me go mad if I see projects like Energy Vault [1] getting massive funding that could be used to try and develop technologies that make sense. Thankfully there are some people who see through the charade [2]. If you are into this thing and looking for an even more stupid idea to store energy, I present to you the StEnSEA [3]. Rolls right off the tongue, right? It is a hollow concrete sphere that is lowered to the bottom of the lake. Pumps then remove water from it, creating a vacuum. Letting the water back in and using the pumps as generators, the energy is reclaimed. Curiously absent from all documentation of this project is the amount of energy
Critical perpetuallunch · 2026-08 · on “US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects”
> Or lifting a really heavy thing and letting it fall slowly. I challenge you to run the numbers on this. Or at least read or watch someone who has. Whenever you’re certain you know the answer, it behooves to try to prove yourself wrong. Unsurprisingly, gravity is an extraordinarily weak force. It merely appears otherwise because the total mass of the Earth is literally astronomical at around the 5.9722×10^24 kg mark. Concrete blocks hanging from a crane, much less so. Don’t believe me. BIY - Believe It Yourself here: [this video] Pumped hydro is a nonstarter: do you see any suitable geography anywhere ? Yep, they’ve already been dammed damn it. So approximately no one ^ can have their existing h