Solar Tower - renewable energy green global warming

[brettrodli]

EnviroMission via press release "EnviroMission Solar Tower Project Financial Commitment". EVM has received a formal commitment to provide the entire development and construction capital for EVM's first solar tower power station being developed in La Paz county Arizona to deliver the terms of a power purchase agreement with the SCCPA.

The financing is subject to the due diligence and the acceptance of related banking instruments by EVM's legal adivsors and bankers..."100% pure equity".

[mrpoghunter]

Holy Haters trying and failing is better then never trying...

[vechorik]

A new study in the peer-reviewed science journal "Remote Sensing" has found that United Nations computer models may be incorrect in overstating the amount of global warming that will occur in the future. James M. Taylor says it would be wise for the media, elected officials and climate scientists to recognize the “huge discrepancy” between global warming predictors and NASA’s satellite data.

[Harkruel]

Not saying this is a bad idea, its just we are just simply using the power from the sun in more and different ways, all we need to really do, is find the most effecient way of capturing the energy of the sun and then harvesting it.

[Secretxchanel]

To make it more effective they should paint it black.

[bootylicification]

1 /2 Obama stop offshore drilling until it was reinstated. This could cause a $5 a gallon increase, because we would grow dependent upon foreign nations we are not allies with in order to provide our oil. Cap and Trade (American Power Act) would increase gas prices increase by $2.58 a gallon according to George C. Marshall Institute& taxes on the average household up to $3200 according to the RNC Foreign countries price gouge w/ gas prices to $10/gal!.

.

Allen West 2012

[deboy0123]

Going green dosn't have to be expensive checkout this website for anyone looking to save from 40% to 90% of your current monthly bill in electricity to water even heat bill just spreading the word. go to ezgreenshopper . com the amount of money you will save, thats up to you check it out at least see what you like.

[TheCarnarvonBoy]

Hey m8s4lif, where do you purchase power for 5 cents a KW? You aint payin enough!

its 22 cents a KW where i'm livin! and going up 10-15 % per year for the next 2-5 years due to our dumb ass utility not charging enough in the past. stay cool mate.

[mhlubs]

i love it how can we get one

[m8s4lif]

Lets see. 30KW x 24 hours a day=720KW hours per day, times say 5 cents per KW hour = $36.00 a day. At that rate it would take over 76 years to pay for just the tower alone, without any interest. Very expensive electricity.

[ostralopithicus]

@m8s4lif not to mention the costs of periodically replacing the plastic, which is a petrol product. These guys were attempting to find money to build a kilometer high tower here in australia (as apparently it becomes cost effective at that scale), but then they had to back down when they found out that no one could build anything that tall.

[nuksucow1983]

anyone looking into green energy should vist The Zeitgeist Movement or the Venus project. Some problems to overcome before green energy is taken seriously

[HomeWindmills7]

Spain has lots of wind and solar resources. Nice.

[Charlesincharge42]

The solar chimney can operate AT NIGHT, as the ground is heated and that heat is used at night.

The Green Tower people have designed enhancements to this effect that allows their tower to run at 89% at night, with 6 DAYS reserve, no plumbing needed.

2/3 of the greenhouse area is suitable for farming with about a 170% increase in crop output.

It could be a housing co-op, with about 3400 shareholders sharing the costs and profits. Who needs big investors? Same price as a coal fired plant.

[VederchiHarry]

What is the average power? around 4:00 he says... 30 kW?????

[Meda01]

OMG, it's getting so freaking hot in Phoenix this summer (like every summer) that we'd power half the country with those.

[threeredstars]

@Meda01 Lake Havasu is even hotter!!!! BRING IT HERE!!!!

[kevleitrim]

absolutely beautifully simple! i have long thought our energy needs will not be solved by hi tech, carbon heavy solutions, simplicity is the way to go, a perfect example i applaud the inventors!! simpler is better!!! absolutely perfect.

[Evi1M4chine]

How does the air go in in the first place? From the sides?

[threeredstars]

@Evi1M4chine Yes the heat being pushed up into the tube sucks that air from the sides and the wind gets faster as you get closer to the tube

[nineteenthly]

Would this work in the British Isles?

[Omega3chimp]

There should be one in every country.

[Yep1mGay]

keep in mind that this is just a 1/5 scale prototype of the actual tower that they want to build. and this tower isn't meant for energy output as its main goal (but it still is) its meant to be a test to figure out what materials and settings work best so when the make the real one it will be as efficient as possible.

Also this was shut down after 8 years because it was structurally unstable. I think they are currently building or at the least still designing the full scale one...

[Gewyne]

I see this is quiet old but, did it ever take off ?

Plastic sheet, empty tube/tower and turbine - cheap, easy to set up, and it can possible be used to collect water as well !

[404anonnotfound]

this is ugly.

It is possible and plausible, but it's still ugly. Then again, I live next to a large radio station and I think that's ugly too.

Water towers? Nah, those are fine. Giant nuclear reactors? Well those are really ugly too. But so are the giant coal plants nearby...

[brettrodli]

EnviroMission Solar Tower Wins Southern California Public Power Authority: Press Release on Enviromission's website.

[banksy35]

heres an idea. make this solar tower big enough to go in space and you get a space elevator, whilst reducing global warming and greating lotsa energy.

[aargh5]

Good idea but there might be one problem.

I think its air which comes out at the top of a solar tower. if the solar power is so big it goes into the space, wouldnt that mean that some air will go into deep space and not come back to earth. Sooner or later all air has been sent up to Space and we will all die.

[korreltjie]

@aargh5 Clever guy do you realy think they could achieve a tower that strech thru the artmosfeer na dont think so

[cdowell1976]

interesting but not very realistic unfortunately. What we could start doing is actually building shuttles/crafts in space just outside of the Earth. Doing so would reduce need for blasting through gravity & saving that much extra fuel.

[cdltpx]

The towers could be used as green houses to provide locally grown produce making the footprint the towers make almost negligible. The closer in your food is grown the less energy expended in it's cycle. The best thing that could happen is fuel prices to make another sharp increase to show that using fuel is unwise why continue that which is unsustainable when you have options available today?

[cdowell1976]

Now that's a great idea! Mulit-use all the way!

[RasputinSir]

what if empty malls&parking lots across the US had these plants in them???

[cdowell1976]

That's an idea. I kinda like that.

[ortatherox]

hecterrrrs

[Nextor207]

Spettacolare, altro che nucleare!

[fletcho11]

I just have one thing to say , to all of you carbon reduction supporters , all of your numbers are way off , you never take in to account the amount for carbon it takes in the production of these Green power production plants , all the coal powered plants in 3rd world countries that supply the power to produce the parts ,I have nothing against other forms of energy . If it takes 900 tons of carbon to make and it only saves 100 tons per year and only runs for 7 years ? Is it really better ?

[cdowell1976]

I admire the arguement you present however the numbers even equate a better total. 900 tons on 1 job for a natural powerplant that lasts 20+ yrs. heck, some nuclear plants are close to 50 yrs old. Over the long term, the numbers do add up to significant reduction.

[stopglobalwarming08]

looks super!

[bleedburple]

its a good idea, but still the draw backs of space and material are still important.

[theiratedog]

chuck a couple in the US deserts, a few more in the saharan....we're be fiiiiiiiiiine. As for material all there is is some sheets of plastic and a chimney, a few less things required than for a nuclear reactor or a geothermal power plant. No I like this idea, but it seems like this is a one off, that german company needs to expand and diversify me thinks before this can have a chance of taking off...

[FreeAgain2]

BP and Shell shook confidence in the UK industry when they abandoned all plans for developing wind farms in ­Britain last year in favour of the US, where the tax treatment and planning regime is considered far more favourable. The exit of Shell was a particular blow because it was backing the world's ­biggest offshore wind farm, the London Array, off Kent.

[54spiritedwill54]

Beautiful way to make electricity

[GFS05np]

they should build these above all the big parking lots we have.

 tarmac -asphalt gets so hot. + all those hot cars. it would be very efficient.

*

and then collect the rain water at weight points, & use it locally if possible.

[theiratedog]

you're right, lol, but I think the image of 150 something km/hour winds in a car park could be a bit of a question for health and safety people

[biterface03]

@GFS05np we should just eliminate asphalt as a whole...

its gonna prevent the earth beneath it from flourishing and growing.

but how can we make something good enough and biodegradeble to replace tar and cement?

hmmm

[lcabosa]

@biterface03 glass over the ocean, ocean city made of glass , steel and concrete that uses updraft tower for air conditioning and desalinization, and the in water part of the structure to creat artificial biorock reef, i`m drawing some sketchs to present a more sound image of the idea. it`s something that requires a comtemporany faroonic power to be possible. keep on dreaming :0) and free the land...

[wakeangel2001]

holy cow! I read about this in popular science! I didn't know they ACTUALLY made one!

[caucazoidandroid]

I wonder how old this video is, because the turbines that the Germans are making now are so much better than the old ones. Surely, with the new turbines, the output would be even better. And I wonder if you could irrigate the land underneath to grow food, or whether that would interfere with the generator.

[bimblinghill]

According to a New Scientist article, growing crops underneath actually improves efficiency, if you irrigate. The water vapour lost from the leaves is less dense than air, and so strengthens the rising air effect. Plenty of water would be required though.

[TRUMPHENT]

This apparently was a pilot project built in 1982 and ran nonstop for seven years.

[determinism89]

What is the actual function of the tower? I see that the air has a tendency to rise through the center where the generator is. Is the column of hot air then supposed to pull more air into the system as it rises?

[bimblinghill]

Yes

[beartracksracing]

Just a thought. If the upper atmosphere wind speeds are higher than the wind speed in the vertical wind tunnel why not use that to increase power.

Cap the top of the tower with a 90 degree hood that can rotate to match wind direction by use of a stablizer vains and bearings. As upper atmostphere winds are blown by the vent hood, an venturi effect is created increasing the total wind speed of the tower. This will increase the power of turbin below.

[tidtad123]

between 1:15 - 1:20, What is the name of the material again that is use?

[charliecorgan]

I think its Tedlar, also used as backsheet for solar modules. Insulating & very resistant plastic.

[ChemicalMikeUK]

i wonder what the ramifications are of having all that heat energy focused in one place high in the atmosphere will be

[OgeronimonominoregO]

If the air continues to rise, why not have more turbines in the chimney?

[tulmax82]

that's a good question, I thought the same! I guess that somehow every turbine would slow down the air reducing the energy production of the next turbine... but it sounds pretty lame...

does anyone know the reason?

[joemc111]

I think the Turbine should be placed at the top. My reason is that if the turbine is placed on the bottom you only have the suction of the Chimney pulling air through the blades, But if the TURBINE is placed at the top then all the hot air trying to get out will have to go through the Blades. If you want to see what I am talking about try this with a shop vac. Hold you hand over the tube while you are sucking, and then try to hold you hand over the tube while you are Blowing. Which is harder?

[gaiatechnician]

it would be much harder engineering wise to put it at the top. It was just a test run.

[beartracksracing]

Once the heated air reaches the tower, it will not have much less force than at the exit of the tower. Yes airspeed will be geater at the top, but the air density will be lower resulting nearly same force. From simplicity aspect, the turbin at the bottom will produce the cheapest electricty per KW.

[hachicontrol]

Plus, there would be efficiency losses as the air rises, because the fact that the air is rising means that its energy is going elsewhere, and not ultimately towards turning the turbines blades.

[fatjohn1408]

I say build it in death valley.

[hideandwatch55]

i've seen so many moronic posts that i can't believe it. some of you need to go back to school. this is a cool idea, but 30kw will power a house, maybe two conservative ones. i seen a post about losing the land to other uses, we have a whole lot of useless desert for this type thing. they should have paved the collection area and probably get 10 times the output... well, its a start.. really cool idea

[beartracksracing]

that is 30KW an hour. Most homes use only 30KW a day. That would be at least 24 homes that can be powered from this tower.

[masterokaslt30000]

its sayed that its 200m hight!!!!!!

[JonThm]

We can do molecular nuclear fusion from water: No CO2. What are you upset about?

[determinism89]

Can we do this while maintaining a steady enough state to generate electricity from it?

[truthspeaker2000]

this one in spain is about 200 m,

the tower in aussieland is planned

with 1000 m

[SnowflakeMoray]

I live in the SUV -HUMVEE capital of the WORLD . Miami Florida. One easy way to cut back on these gas guzzling machines of unreal pollution is a HUGE registration fee on any vehicle that weighs over a certain weight or cost a certain amount to fill the tank. They can afford it and the money can go to improving public transportation,etc. atleast its a start

[ddhh1]

hmmm, nice v neck

[goneRIDING250F]

how high is it? does any one know something to scale?

[truthspeaker2000]

"how high is it? does any one know something to scale?"

I read somewhere it´s planned to build the australian one up to 1000 meters.

This one in spain, which is only for the research about the technology, had about

200 m.

[Yorkiebar1]

Good in a hot climate, but that's a lot of land you now can't use to build on...

[coldwynn]

Since there's a huge greenhouse underneath the plastic sheeting, I imagine there are other land uses besides building.

[Santi411]

This is going to save the planet!!

Viva España y Don Quijote!!!

[Santi411]

That is going to save the planet!!

VIVA ESPAÑA!!

[RobertKubica1121]

There could be many windwills around the tower! Very good video

[zsurfer]

Wonder if the solar tower could be combined with a wind mill on top to get dual use renewable energy.

[AanyaMary]

Imagine replacing all the coal and nuclear turbines in the world with this - minus emissions now!

[FlyGuy357]

This was the kind of television (series named - Beyond 2000)that it truly missed in our current "reality" age.

[blank72]

60 KW for this monster?

It is not even the power of a single car!

[Nabo00o]

Oh yes!

You have no idea how much less power a car needs.

[wewillrock89]

not if you wanna go over 5 mph

[LOLDISNEYLAND]

The power output of a car is so much less than the actual power output of the fuel. A petrol engine (of any kind) is VERY inefficient.

[NicoleVanZyl]

How sis this not come to mind ages ago???

[lynn111088]

hope it can generate energy without pollution

[sstdog]

thats the point

[MindsiMediaThePlan]

Just the sort ideas we need to be exploring to solve our long term energy needs here in the states. Go Aussie.

[bennyboots]

Beautiful way to make electricity

[diamondsmajestic1]

A very interesting pilot plant. When and where can we expect to see some more trials like this and how reliable would you rate this equipment?

[aman2040]

Having 4 blades instead of more suggests to me that it moves rather fast in the day.

Overall I'm impressed at how amazing it works. Building the tower higher may seem quite impractical, as high winds will require thicker walls and deeper foundation. What effect will it have on the output if the tower is pyramidal or upside down pyramidal?

This plant will require quite some embodied energy in making plastic and the reinforced concrete tower, but definately worth investing.

[Montauk198]

since this thing is a green house under the plastic then why dont they grow organic foods?multipurpose machine..

[kukulcan12]

The rest of the planets including Pluto are heating up too, that is a fact, which disproves that we are doing it. And for you fools who make the half-truth point that our planet is heating up at a different rate then all the other planets, that's true, but all the planets are heating up at different rates simply because they all have different mass, density, distance from the Sun, etc. 95% of global warming, if not better, is from the Sun!

[brusegadi55]

Your logic is faulty. Read the last part of your post. The planets have such different characteristics that any correlation is spurious at best.

[brettrodli]

If you like this video of the solar tower, find the Discovery Channel video (Youtube will not let me post the link) on the EnviroMission's solar tower. It is quite good. Click my alias, and you will see a list of my videos. Click the one with the hot air balloon. It is worth watching.

[milofonbil]

Loved the video, thanks.  I can easily see how the Solar Tower could very easily scale. I imagine it's something like double the diameter, four times the power. At some point, I would imagine the height of the tower becomes immaterial.

[Yorkiebar1]

The problem is that you have to keep enough air flowing up through the tower, so for a wider diameter it would need to be much higher (to get lower pressure at the top, drawing air up) and it would require a larger collection area at ground level.

[gamecarnivor]

do you realize how much cheaper it is to make a tarp and a chimney than a huge furnace and water steaming system.

[PabloManUK]

I really really like this idea/prototype.

Energy is the key for the future. (fuel can be switched to cars with electric motors, and fuel should be left for products and services that actually cant be substituted, eg Airplanes might need fuel if they are too heavy, and the production of plastics etc would need it, but otherwise energy is the key imho :)

[RiKnAp9296]

oh okay. so we could probably place solar toweres in aeroplanes then? kyheheh, nah kidding...

[utkonos313]

Most people are happy to subsidise the development of these new technologies and will willingly make the small sacrifice of paying a little more for electricity. However, people will not be happy if the Greens once again risk practical projects by trying to impose extreme, impractical and needless conditions which render the projects uneconomic.

[utkonos313]

Everybody has to take climate change seriously and make sacrifices. We don't want a repeat of the wind power fiasco in Tasmania where the taxpayers willingly funded its development but the Greens opposed the project by insisting that a road needed to build and maintain it not be built/upgraded.

[sarpicaste]

Great video, shows a real (already built example of this technology) I posted a forum post discussing this same technology at HotEntrepreneur dot com, I think it should be great!

[brettrodli]

The Discovery Channel recently released a 4 minute segment on the solar tower in the Building the Future program aired in June 2007. It is an excellent interview and video. YouTube will not let you post a link to it, so here is how you find it and watch it:

Go to the Discovery Channel website, type "solar tower" into the search field, and select the video on the right that says Building the Future: Solar Tower Power...and enjoy.

Post your thoughts on it!

[sourfeet]

Add more turbines in one chimney. Awesome idea.

Beats that mirror tower idea.

[sourfeet]

this is cool and it works.

seems much better then the other one with the mirrors

[bmx4352]

We could grow tomatoes on NY underneath those big tents...

[g3dSteve]

Replace the Twin-Towers with one.

You could call it Free Power Tower....

Its got a ring to it.

I live in South Australia. They were talking about it years ago. We are now buying US nucular reactor technology.

Those pessimistic Posts might have something. :(

[elco68]

There might be a problem with polination of them under a tent of that size. I think it could be done by human means though.

[LatteLiberal]

If God wanted us to use solar power, he would have given us panels. But he intended for us to use coal, oil and nucular power. Thats why he gace us gas masks and a good military. Get a life liberals. Be a man. Drive a truck and ditch the silly hybrid crap.

[schwarzgrueneundblau]

Are you kidding?

[Yggdrasill4]

You didn't pick up a single hint of sarcasm in his post?

...

[uselogic4]

You guys are failing to realize that the establishment absolutely cannot afford to have free energy systems developed. If free energy is developed they will lose control. Period.

[psyroy91]

i agree

[Nurr0]

I think you need to read over the name you're using and "use logic" to realise that your statement is totally incorrect.

[aluisious]

You're failing to realize that conspiracy theory is the realm of idiots and losers.

[ParapaDrifter]

Labels are the realm of those unwilling to present arguments.

[derhawk]

considering more work is needed to fully exploit the concept, and you probably know jack about engineering and science, i trust the narrator's statement of a dollar for dollar competition for energy cost.  PLUS, no arab sultans control the sun--they've already doubled my gas costs.

[tomintroy]

Trust? what the hell does trust have to do with science? I use 4th grade math to cut though the hope and hype, give it a try sometime.

[tcsadt]

pupplesan, and there would be no conversion costs or loss of resource due to power conversion. after the construction setup, its free. it would have to be a huge site unfortunately, and that would mean it would be very unsightly.

[kileran]

well they're making it in the austrailian desert, out in the middle of nowhere, so there's not much worry there.

[pupplesan]

The efficiency is very low but, on paper at least, these things scale-up well so that with a mile-high tower and 40 square miles of collector the power gets very cheap.

[yuyupil]

This type of generation of energy can be used in conjunction to other sources. You could also combine two energy sources into one by using solar pannels to generate more power as well as heat for the chimeny

[fuzzymonkey777]

Someone should make a smaller one of these in their back yard.

[milotacsbil]

It gets me to think how much a Walmart changes the environment with its large, black asphalt parking lot.

[Gr3mpy123]

Thats a really good point. Orange Country, California was hot as hell and its basically one gigantic parking lot.

[schnippschnappcroco]

Why dont we have such everywhere ....