Snow power

[Mr Skeptic]

About now in the northern hemisphere, snow would be falling all over and getting disposed of. Could it be put to good use instead of thrown away? Ice has an enthalpy of fusion of 333 kJ/kg (the energy required to melt 1 kg of ice). This is about one hundredth the energy density of gasoline. Instead of throwing it out, could snow be gathered and used as an energy source? This would have the additional benefit of snowplows not throwing snow to the side, but would complicate the clearing of snow.

 

Though the production of energy from snow would be very inefficient (a side effect of the small temperature difference between ice and room temperature), using ice as a power source would have the unusual property of cooling rather than heating. Thus, extracting power from ice could replace air conditioning systems and the power consumed by them.

 

However, ice has a very low energy density as compared to chemical sources, and may even take more energy to gather than it could produce. However, since we have to clear snow anyhow, at least some of those losses would be necessary anyhow.

 

So what do people think? Could gathering snow be a useful form of renewable energy? Or would the costs of gathering and storing it outweigh the potential benefits of power generation and cooling?

[Rocket Man]

adding salt to the snow further chills the water, so you could potentially extract energy from the the increased heat differential. low temperature propellants and condensers packed in ice.

i dont think you'd get much power from 4-5 degrees C though.

[swansont]

Enthalpy of fusion is only useful to you if you are forming the ice — once it's formed that energy has been released — and I doubt air conditioning is a priority when it's snowing.

[Mr Skeptic]

Enthalpy of fusion is only useful to you if you are forming the ice — once it's formed that energy has been released — and I doubt air conditioning is a priority when it's snowing.

 

Oh, I meant to collect the ice in the winter and keep it till spring/summer. Then it could be used to power a heat engine (for example) using the room as a heat source and the ice as a cold source. So, power and air conditioning.

 

But will it be energetically or economically worthwhile to collect the snow and store it till spring/summer?

[swansont]

Oh, I meant to collect the ice in the winter and keep it till spring/summer. Then it could be used to power a heat engine (for example) using the room as a heat source and the ice as a cold source. So, power and air conditioning.

 

But will it be energetically or economically worthwhile to collect the snow and store it till spring/summer?

 

People used to do this but they don't anymore. I can't imagine that storing ice and lugging it around is particularly cost-effective when you can make it quite easily and cheaply.