Battery...Or Sand Castle?

casualSTEM delivers brief and informative summaries of the latest science news every Saturday. Full of jokes, silly polls, and a cartoon!

Hot Sand

Finland runs on sand energy. Well, at least some homes are making use of a massive sand battery for their heating needs.

• Sand battery = ~42.5’ tall x 49’ wide, 100 MWH capacity

• Stores excess electricity as heat in ~2,000 tons of sand

• Heats up to 1,112 ºF

The battery can heat an entire town for a week in the winter, though it is intended to buffer shortages instead of being a primary source. Estimates predict it will cut carbon emissions by 70% and reduce wood chip usage in the region. But does it look like a sand castle?!

Maybe a beginner sand castle

Catch-up on science in sweatpants