Power Stack
Team
Name: Michelle Schneider
Nationality: American
Institution / Company: Rice University
-EDITORIAL PICK of Powerless City Competition
Power Stacks are a gravity-based energy storage method, reserving surplus produced by renewables, and made available in times of supply fluctuations. Dense blocks sit at the top of the Power Stack as potential energy, and slowly descend, spinning a turbine and thus generating power. This storage method has an architectural, material, and scalable potential. Recycling centers implemented on site fabricate blocks using leftover scrap metal. Oil companies are provided a means of recycling in lieu of an otherwise wildly expensive disposal of unsafe components. Abundant construction material ensures the Power Stacks a massive Return on Investment. The speculative project is focused on a milestone of 50 years. The wake of oil’s obsolescence provides an opportunity to design storage utilizing a method that will never be depleted, gravity.
The project is in Pasadena, Texas, which is largely owned and operated by the oil and gas industry. Within the United States, Texas is known as the ‘Energy Giant’ state. With massive energy investment to sustain this title, it is apt for the site of a novel energy storage prototype.
#Batteries and Energy Storage #Energy Infrastructure and Distribution #Fossil Fuels, Gas and Oil #Kinetic Energy Harvesting #Space Occupation of Energy Infrastructure
