{"id":10507,"date":"2022-03-08T14:45:13","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T14:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TheNextWeb=1382156"},"modified":"2022-03-08T14:45:13","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T14:45:13","slug":"heres-how-electric-trucks-can-use-mountains-to-create-green-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=10507","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s how electric trucks can use mountains to create green energy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span>As the world is moving towards renewable energy sources, one promising avenue is hydropower. Simply put, this is all about using falling or fast-running water to produce electricity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Despite its capability, innovation in hydropower technology has been relatively slow in the last century, and the potential of hydropower in multiple suitable regions remains untapped.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Fortunately for the planet, Julian Hunt, researcher at the <\/span><span><a href=\"https:\/\/iiasa.ac.at\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis<\/a> (IIASA), and an international team of scientists have developed a technology that can harness hydropower from steep mountain regions, where <\/span><span>the potential for generating electricity from rivers is very high.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>What\u2019s been the difficulty so far?<\/h3>\n<p><span>Firstly, the area surrounding small water streams is very limited. This means that the typical components of a hydroelectric plant (dams, tunnels, reservoirs, turbine generation systems) can\u2019t really be installed.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Secondly, river flow is highly susceptible to climate change, which implies that a conventional facility couldn\u2019t guarantee consistent power generation, nor a return of investment.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>What\u2019s the research\u2019s solution?<\/h3>\n<p><span>Hunt and his team developed a technology called Electric Truck Hydropower (ETH). As the name suggests, it\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/topic\/evs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">electric trucks<\/a> themselves that undertake the entire process of transforming water power into electricity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Here\u2019s how it works:&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>A discharge site is installed at the base of the mountain, while a charge site is installed at its upper part.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>Trucks loaded with empty containers and nearly discharged batteries ascend towards the charge site, where they fill the containers with water.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>Once filled up, the trucks descend the mountain applying their <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/what-is-one-pedal-driving-electric-vehicles-cars-evs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">regenerative braking system<\/a>, which turns the water weight&nbsp;into electricity and charges the trucks\u2019 battery.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>At the discharge site, the containers are unloaded and the water is released back to the river. This reduces the negative impact on river flow and aquatic life.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>The charged battery is then replaced with a nearly discharged one, and the process starts anew.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1382160 js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Electric-trucks-figure.png\" alt=\"electric trucks use hydro energy to generate electricity\" width=\"768\" height=\"223\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Electric-trucks-figure.png 768w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Electric-trucks-figure-280x81.png 280w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Electric-trucks-figure-270x78.png 270w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Electric-trucks-figure-540x157.png 540w\"><figcaption><a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/how-electric-trucks-can-use-mountains-create-green-energy#\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Feditorial.thenextweb.com%2Fshift%2F2022%2F03%2F08%2Fhow-electric-trucks-can-use-mountains-create-green-energy%2F&amp;via=thenextweb&amp;related=thenextweb&amp;text=Check out this picture on: The schematic of the process. Image: Hunt et al.\" data-title=\"Share The schematic of the process. Image: Hunt et al. on Twitter\" data-width=\"685\" data-height=\"500\" class=\"post-image-share popitup\" title=\"Share The schematic of the process. Image: Hunt et al. on Twitter\"><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"><\/i><\/a>The schematic of the process. Image: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S036054422200398X?via%3Dihub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Hunt et al.<\/a><\/figcaption><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1382160\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Electric-trucks-figure.png\" alt=\"electric trucks use hydro energy to generate electricity\" width=\"768\" height=\"223\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Electric-trucks-figure.png 768w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Electric-trucks-figure-280x81.png 280w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Electric-trucks-figure-270x78.png 270w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/03\/Electric-trucks-figure-540x157.png 540w\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<h3>What are the advantages?<\/h3>\n<p><span>Notably, the trucks not only power themselves up, but also feed the generated energy back to the grid. <\/span><b>&nbsp;<\/b><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s because the discharge site can be connected to a national node, allowing the charged battery packs to supply people and places around the country. <span>Alternatively, the batteries can also operate as a grid energy storage solution.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Another benefit is the cost. Price estimates by the researchers show that the levelized cost of electric truck hydropower is $30-100 per MWh, which is considerably cheaper than conventional hydropower that clocks in at $50-200 per MWh.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As for its environmental impact, electric truck hydropower is believed to be significantly lower than that of its conventional cousin.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThis technology does not require dams, reservoirs, or tunnels, and it does not disrupt the natural flow of the river and fish passage,\u201d Hunt explained. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe system requires only roads, which already exist, charging and discharging stations similar to small car parks, a battery facility connected to the grid, and the trucks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Plus, the flexibility of the technology \u2014 the trucks are portable after all \u2014 relieves the pressure of using water from the same source. And even during periods with low river flow, the system doesn\u2019t go to waste, as the trucks can be used for the transportation of cargo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Little makes me happier than researchers finding elegant solutions to creating more green energy. Long live, electric truck hydropower! A technology that sounds as <em>cool<\/em> as it is.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>If you\u2019d like to learn more about the research, you can find it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S036054422200398X?via%3Dihub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/how-electric-trucks-can-use-mountains-create-green-energy\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the world is moving towards renewable energy sources, one promising avenue is hydropower. Simply put, this is all about using falling or fast-running water to produce electricity. Despite its capability, innovation&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10507"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}