Saint Thomas Aquinas Energy Generating Facility, a Dominican Monastery.
Team
Name: Taque
Nationality: American
Institution / Company: The Spatial Infirmary
Instagram: @spatial_infirmary
-HONOURABLE MENTION of Powerless City Competition
Assisting in the stabilization of a failing and overloaded utility grid, Dominican Friars have built a power plant, which serves as a repository for excess energy. This excess energy is used to deploy 3-ton “batteries”, which are filled with non-recyclable waste such as concrete, up an elevated position. With the elevation gained, these become “potential energy”. When energy is needed, the plant releases kinetic energy back into the grid by lowering the batteries through gravitational force. The state pays storage facilities 0.25/watt of storage, and each battery can store .5MW of power, generating $12,000.00 of revenue/battery.
As an additional revenue stream, whole home batteries are sold to the public. They weigh 550 pounds, measure 8′ tall x 12′ wide x 2′ thick and serve a dual purpose; a battery and a wall.
After being retrofitted, homes are energized by this battery-wall. An energized wall becomes the sole supplier of electricity to the home, and since electricity is now concentrated in one area of the home, the dwelling program must change.
The Dominican Friar’s mission is to isolate energy, and thus, decentralize the activities related to it, so we may plug ourselves back into simplicity.
#gravitybattery #batteriesandenergystorage #microgrid #consumerbehavior #retailenergy #StaaS (storage as a service) #buildingelectrification #kineticenergy #potentialenergy
