Pumped Storage Generation in Underground Caves

Pumped storage is an emission-free and relatively cheap method of generating power at peak times. The idea is to pump water up to a reservoir at the top of a mountain at night (off-peak) when electricity is cheap. Then at peak times, when everybody needs electricity, you can use the pressure head of the elevated water to drive a turbine and generate power.

The problem is that good sites are rare, difficult to find, develop, permit, and operate. One solution that may work for some areas could be to take the whole setup and move it down into the Earth. Dig a tunnel or use existing cave systems that are deep in the ground. You would have the powerplant chamber and turbine deep underground, but the reservoir and all the other facilities could be easily accessible at ground level.

Image adapted from: http://www.tva.gov/power/images/pumpstor.jpg

CATEGORY: Energy
IDEATION: November 3, 2008.

Patent Philanthropy

If some entity were to purchase patents from private companies, they could perform a powerful global philanthropy by distributing the intellectual property so the productivity and benefits of the inventions could be exponentially scaled up by companies and governments around the world. Potential examples would be drug formulas, manufacturing processes, green energy technologies, etc.

This would leave the economic reward for innovation intact, but remove the constraints on the benefits that come when a single company wields that innovation. The purchase of the patent would have to involve a thorough valuation, where the likely economic benefit to the company would be compensated with a lump sum payment. Maybe the company could still have first dibs on contracts arising from the patent.

Another option would be to somehow facilitate or subsidize licensing agreements between the patent-holder and other companies that could potentially utilize the patent. Such an entity would need to have large purchasing power and broad reach, maybe a US or UN organization.

There are movements of similar spirit already afoot, where companies in non-competing industries are pooling patents and licenses in "Creative Commons." (see: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/business/01proto.html?_r=1&scp=10&sq=green+companies&st=nyt)

CATEGORY: Economic / Political / Social
IDEATION: November 2, 2009.