There's been some talk lately of using Flywheels as a means of energy storage. With energy densities of up to 130 Wh/kg (Roughly five times that of Nickle Cadmium batteries) and efficiency stats of 90% or better, small scale systems are commonly used in NASA satellites, and in the 1950's some companies in Switzerland constructed GyroBuses to use this technology for transportation.
With an influx of sustanable energy sources like wind and solar, a way to store energy for extended periods of time becomes more and more necessary; the sun don't always shine, and the wind don't always blow. Flywheels are an elegant solution to this problem, in that they require no hazardous materials for productions, and create none during operation. In addition, although higher in initial engineering costs, FES systems quickly show themselves to be much cheaper in the long run.
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