

Bottled Wind Could Be as Constant as Coal Power - cwan
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/03/compressed-air-plants/

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happenstance
When you compress air, it heats up and expands -- thus making the pressure go
up faster than one might expect. So, when storing it you lose a lot of energy
as heat.

When you let it uncompress, it cools -- losing a lot of energy again.

Point is, you lose quite a bit of energy going both ways.

A good solution might be to combine wind and pumped hydro: have the wind
turbine pump water to a higher elevation when extra wind is available.

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jessriedel
That is definitely an interesting point, although I assume it was taken into
account when companies and the government did their comparison with
hydroelectric storage. Larger caverns should reduce the amount of energy lost
due to heat.

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rwhitman
Ok, I know this is going to sound really juvenile, but I clicked on this link
thinking it was a joke about farts.

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philwelch
HN isn't the type of place where you should share every thought that crosses
your mind. If someone does submit a fart joke you should just flag it.

