To provide a sustainable energy source and address power shortages, researchers from the Japanese city of Aomori have started to investigate ways to generate electricity from snow.
The city of Aomori began an experiment in a swimming pool at an abandoned elementary school in December to examine the viability of generating energy in snowpack and its surrounding air.
The City Of Aomori Is Making Good Use Of Its Excess Snow
Aomori, Japan is known as one of the snowiest places on Earth since it averages 25 to 26 feet of snow every year.
Last year, there was so much snow in the city that it cost the government there almost $46 million (5.9 billion yen) to clear it from the streets and buildings.
Because of this, an intriguing solution to the snow problem has been made by a team of researchers from the University of Electro-Communications (UEC Tokyo) and IT startup Forte in Aomori.
According to Interesting Engineering, researchers argue that Aomori's surplus snow may be used to produce clean, inexpensive electricity.
In their collaborative effort, Forte Co. and UEC Tokyo hope to use the energy created when liquid that has been cooled by snow storage is then turned into steam by the heat of the surrounding air to run a turbine.
Snow storage as a source of electricity has lately gained popularity as an inexpensive, secure, and ecologically beneficial energy source.
The coolant liquid inside the turbine will be supplied with hot air from the outside and cold air from the snow that has been kept by the researchers using heat tubes.
The convection current created by the temperature difference between the hot and cold air in the turbine's coolant will eventually cause the turbine to rotate and generate power.
"The greater the temperature differences, the greater the efficiency of power generation," one of the researchers and a professor at UEC, Koji Enoki says.
Read More: Renewable Energy to Overtake Coal as the Biggest Source of Electricity by 2025, IEA Says
This Is Not The First Time Snow Has Been Considered As An Energy Source
A group of scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) created a device in 2019 that might generate electricity from snow falling.
All of those, however, do not provide a scalable snow-power solution like the one advanced by Japanese experts.
The use of snow-electricity, unlike any other renewable energy generating source, also presents significant difficulties.
For instance, massive snow storage facilities will be necessary to scale this operation, according to Interesting Engineering.
Additionally, maintaining a steady supply of hot air in snowy areas could be challenging for businesses using snow energy plants.
To determine whether their suggested approach is practical, the researchers will undertake their study in Aomori until March.
They will also be attempting to find ways to get around other restrictions by using the heated air from hot springs in their system.
If the testing is successful, this snow-based power generation technique might usher in a new era of renewable energy in freezing climates around the globe.
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