Can lightning be absorbed and converted to useful energy?

Absorbing lightning and converting it to useful energy would be an extraordinary challenge, Kirtley explains. It would require complex capture and storage facilities and distribution systems that in the end would unlikely yield enough energy to justify their expense.

Can lightning be used for material processing?

The electrical potential from lightning phenomena does not offer sufficient energy for direct use even in locations with the highest lightning frequency, but passive capture may be of benefit, and lightning may be suitable for material processing. 1. Background

Can lightning be used as a material arc?

Material Effects of Lightning Strikes If lightning can be used in the place of plasma arcs for some industrial processes, such as vitrification of materials for safe storage, or for creating highly reduced compounds, energy savings may be realized. For a summary of these processes, see Table 1.

Can lightning be used to generate electricity?

Thunderstorm charge‐separation processes suggest a new class of electricity generators based on kinetic energy and material collision. Ball lightning suggests additional research in dusty plasmas. These methods are all at proof‐of‐concept or early translation stages.

Can Lightning harvest energy?

Another major challenge when attempting to harvest energy from lightning is the impossibility of predicting when and where thunderstorms will occur. Even during a storm, it is very difficult to tell where exactly lightning will strike.

How often does lightning strike?

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, lightning strikes somewhere on the earth approximately 44 times every second, but most of those strikes occur in the tropics and remote mountain regions. Constructing a state-of-the-art energy conversion and storage facility in such conditions would be enormously difficult.