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Use the old gas holder to produce electricity
• YOUR report (Helter skelter vision for King’s Cross gas holder is unveiled, September 10) highlights some interesting uses for this gasometer but misses one out.
It could be used to generate electricity.
The gas holder would be made airtight, and fitted with a central hole about 3ft in diameter, provided with a sealing door. In this opening would be mounted a turbine which may rotate either clockwise or anti-clockwise, generating electricity as it does so.
The door is left open for a couple of hours, and is closed around dawn. During the day, the heat of the sun will warm the air inside the gasometer, causing the air to expand, and its pressure to increase. Around sundown, the door will be opened, and the higher pressure of the air inside will cause the air to flow out of the door, through the turbine, causing it to rotate and generate useful electricity.
When the turbine has stopped, the door is closed. During the evening and night, the colder temperature will cause the air inside the tank to chill, causing it to shrink, and resulting in a lower air pressure.
Around dawn, the door is opened, and air will flow from the outside into the vessel, through the turbine, spinning it in the opposite direction. When the turbine stops, the door is closed, and the system goes through the same cycle again during the next day.
I doubt this would generate a huge amount of electricity but the site could become a gathering point for new energy research.
PETER RUTHERFORD
Pandora Road, NW6
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