Can pipes with pressurized fluid act like an electric grid?

Question

Electricity is used for many things. One of the biggest uses is transporting energy, almost instantly, from a power plant to the machines in my home and many others'.

I was wondering if a similar energy transport grid could be created using a fluid under pressure.

The power plant would use its energy to pump a fluid into the main pipe, which extends all over the country, with many sub pipes coming out to each house. The high pressure liquid would act like high voltage electricity, ready to be tapped into by a user.

At home, one would open a valve in the pipe, causing high pressure fluid to come out. This jet could be used to spin a rotor mechanically, in other words, energy was transmitted almost instantly from the power plant to my home.

We would probably need to have the used fluid go back into another pipe which goes back to the power plant to be pumped again. In other words, something similar to an electric circuit but using fluid instead of electrons.

Knowing about the analogy between electric current and hydrodynamics, I was wondering if my strange idea could be practical or at least physically valid.

Answer 1

Yes, and in fact many workshops use this method with pneumatic tools. A large compressor provides a supply of high pressure air through a system of pipes. Pneumatic tools transform the energy in the pressurized air into work to drive hammers, drills, paint sprayers, and many other tools. By using air as the working fluid there is no need for a return line.

Answer 2

This could appear straight in a steampunk science fiction novel.

What you describe would be a perfectly valid way to do it, but it would most likely not be cost-effective. Pipes that can handle high pressure can be quite expensive, which is discussed nicely in this youtube video by the channel practical engineering. These high pressure pipes would have to run all the way from the power plant up to the homes of people. You could just as well pump the fuel, either as gas or liquid, up to the homes and convert the fuel to pressure there. It might be possible that society finds way of reducing the cost in these pipes enough that the way you describe it is more cost effective than having generators in each home, so I'm not sure.