Pumped storage

I was intrigued yesterday by reports that the Extinction Rebellion and Momentum movements have formed an alliance to force through legislation about pumped storage. Legislation which will require the builders of any building of more than five stories to include pumped storage of sufficient capacity to drive the building for 48 hours from full charge.

This particular variety of pumped storage involves using electricity when it is cheap to haul heavy weights to the top of a building and then generating electricity when it is dear from their controlled fall back down. Consultations are ongoing about whether this will best be done by using something like lift shafts inside the buildings, shafts driven into the ground below them or something outside - perhaps leveraging existing equipment for moving window cleaning cradles about - the former being safe and the latter being cheap.

There is also the possibility that if the UK is quick off the blocks on this one, it could become the centre of an important engineering industry in years to come.

More speculatively, the possibility that depleted uranium from nuclear reactors, being very heavy, would make excellent cores for the large weights needed, thus killing two birds with one stone.