About this user
I'm an advocate of sustainable practices, stopping pollution, and sanity in general.
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Local renewable energy and sustainability.
Have you heard of the "Green Tower" (GT)? It is an improved design of the Solar Chimney
http://www.enviromission.com.au which was tested in Spain in the 80's and 90's, with added benefits. It's looking like the first full scale plant will be built in Africa. A California utility is building a Solar Chimney in Arizona.
http://www.greentower.net/
The most amazing feature is the ability to run at 89% of its rated output AT NIGHT. This is due to the heat stored in the ground and freshwater ponds in the center. There is a 6 day heat reserve.
The GT is designed with a 160 (yes, one hundred sixty) YEAR operating life, that's much longer than a nuclear plant or any other power plant, except perhaps hydroelectric. These solar plants are about the same price as a coal power plant and FAR more reliable. The FAQ at the above site also mentions that in addition to being the most reliable source of electricity, they are also the safest type of power plant yet devised (even safer than hydroelectric).
It has very positive environmental impacts. Two thirds of the land it is built on can be used for 'high intensity farming' and by that they mean that since its internal climate is controlled crops can be grown year round, about a 170% increase in production.
The crop output could easily eclipse the income generated from the electricity. And even without the farming aspect this is likely the least expensive from of power generation.
If you're still reading, I want to explain an interesting and novel twist I came up with regarding this concept:
Knowing that the energy industry is highly self-centered and has immense inertia, I began looking for other ways to build a 1/2 billion USD power plant. This seemed very daunting at first as that's not exactly within reach of us common folks.
What is within reach is the cost of a home, and that by itself doesn't sound like much until you draw a housing co-operative into the mix. The idea is to build a rather large housing co-op type community. Which would have a Solar Chimney power plant as part of the entire facility. This leaves the roughly 3400 share holders with some interesting resources. Like a really tall tower for communications (ISP backbone? Cell phone services? Air traffic control radars?), roughly 2 square miles of very high output air cooled greenhouse, with water collection by condensation, and last but not least 200 to 400MW of electricity to sell on an ongoing basis.
Anyone who has looked into a housing co-op probably knows that they vary widely. I've even seen one that hopes to become self sustainable, growing their own food and so forth. With 2 sq miles of greenhouse that should be pretty easy.
Feel free to comment on this scheme
Interests
science, astronomy, humor, electric cars, sustainability, smacking down these absurd creationists .. you know fun stuff!
Charlesincharge42
favorited
11 months ago