Creative Ways to Store Energy

Man has known since ancient times that fire (or more precisely, heat) is the easiest form of energy to utilize.  Ever since its discovery, people have been striving for ways to conserve this energy for later use apart from extinguishing the flame and igniting it once again.  Ages passed before other forms of energy were realized and applied to everyday life, and more and more people began to muse and scratch their heads for ways to conserve these new types of energies for later usage. 

As the centuries passed and into the near-modern age, and the era of mechanics dawned on human history, efficient ways of collecting and storing energy began to be discovered and utilized.  The following are the basic ways which give people the means of storing energy through technology and research.

Batteries

Invented by the late Alessando Volta in the 1800s, these devices directly convert chemical energy to electrical energy.  It is the most popular means of storing energy for later use due to its portability and a wide variety of other purposes.

Water Power

Storing lots of water behind a dam or an elevated area such as an aqueduct or water tower and using the force from the fall (or push) of water to spin turbines or other devices that would convert it to usable energy.  This process is also known as hydropower and is the basic means of producing hydroelectricity, which means electricity generated by means of the force of water.

Storage Of Fuels For Burning

There are many forms of fuels that contain enough energy when burned.  The regular fuels that have been commonly used are oil, gas, coal, wood etc.

Solar Collectors

These devices are used to store the sun’s energy for later usage.  They are usually attached to heat transfer circuits and additional storage systems which include heat exchangers, thereby allowing the converted energy to be used in many ways.

Falling Weight

This is probably the oldest form of energy storage but it is still in practical use in the modern era.  Lifting a heavy object that is attached to a string pulled by a heavier object accumulates energy that is waiting to be released. 

The Spring Effect

This is also called Repeatable Mechanical Deformation.  The mechanics behind a wind-up clock or a rubber band behind a device to catapult an object is the best way to describe this form of energy storage.  The spring, which accumulates energy as it is depressed by another device, ejects its stored energy as it forcefully bounds back into shape when it is released.

Flywheel Energy Storage

Conceived in the ancient period but never richly as in the current times, the flywheel is a rotating mechanical device akin to a piston regulator.  It stores kinetic energy, smoothing the performance of another device or engine that is attached to it.

Compressed Air

This method of energy storage is used mostly to power tools and devices.  It is also used for vehicles and its engines.  The expansion of compressed air is used to drive the engines’ pistons, turbine, or axle.  In earlier times, this technology has also been used to power naval torpedo propulsion.

We can save ourselves the trouble that looms in the future; if only we open our minds to these possibilities of storing energy.

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