The World’s Most Beautiful Battery
Scenic, for sure. But those big reservoirs are also huge biodigesters. Rapidly flowing water upstream carries a lot of biomatter, which then gets into the lake where the lesser flow makes it sink to the bottom where it forms a layer of biomatter that starts to decompose and form methane and CO2. Much of it remains on the muck but when pressure levels change frequently, much of the gas gets released. Some such powerplants produce more CO2 than a big city. So, pumped storage for renewables. But also lots of climate gases. But the greens won’t listen when this is brought up …
The man who keeps the electrons flowing inside one of Austria’s oldest power plants is actually often caught off guard when its turbines thrum to life with the thumping baritone of a giant washing machine.
