So I decided that maybe it is a good idea to use micro pumped water storage. Sure why not, have your renewable source pump water to a tank on top of your house and then generate electricity when you release the water and it falls on a turbine. I quickly took a pen and paper and decided to see how much water you would need to power a kettle, so that I can grasp how realistic this really is. This will get pretty mathematical now.
Assume your average kettle burns 2kW, that’s 2000 J/s. Ok so how much water on the roof do you need to get 2000 joules? Assume a perfect conversion of potential energy to electricity and a g of 10. Potential energy = mgh so 2000J = m x 10 x 5 metres (the height of the house). That means we need 40 litres per second. Assume it takes 5 minutes to boil a full kettle. That means 5 x 60 = 300 seconds. Now 40 litres per second multiplied by 300 seconds, that’s 12,000 litres.
A lot of water to make some tea. That means that you need 12 tons on your roof. I think structural engineers might not like this idea, especially if you want to store enough water to power your home. So I guess my idea for non-battery storage in the home just evaporated. Maybe another time I will change the world.
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