Solar Tower - renewable energy green global warming

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SolarMission Technologies (www.solarmissiontechnologies.com) and its Australian subsidiary, EnviroMission Limited (www.enviromission.com.au) produced this 5 minute video on the pilot plant in Spain. It is an older video (2000) but gives a decent understanding of the solar tower concept.

EnviroMission, Ltd. (US Market: EVOMY, Australian Exchange: EVM) is a renewable energy developer of sustainable "green" energy solutions for the energy market. EnviroMission aims to be one of Australia's leading producers of clean renewable energy. EnviroMission holds the proprietary rights to Solar Tower technology, a large-scale renewable energy technology based on simple fundamentals of physics -- hot air rises. Solar Tower technology has the potential to offer competitive renewable energy with equal reliability to fossil fuel generators.

A single 200MW Solar Tower power station will provide enough electricity to power around 400,000 households. The energy output will represent an annual saving of more than 1,960,000 tonnes of greenhouse CO2 gases from entering the environment when compared to brown coal emissions in Victoria. The greenhouse savings equate to the removal of approximately 500,000 cars from the road. The Australian Solar Tower project consists of six distinct phases, the first two of which (project optimization and pre-feasibility commercialization) have already been completed. The third phase (final feasibility), paving the way for the implementation of the next three phases (final design, construction, and commercial operation).

Channel: Howto & Style
Uploaded: December 18, 2006 at 12:14 pm
Author: brettrodli

Length: 00:04:47
Rating: 4.78
Views: 77359

Tags: environment green house gas solar tower power renewable energy global warming co2 climate change emissions wind farms

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Video Comments:
caucazoidandroid (October 20, 2008 at 11:41 am)
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 (November 16, 2008 at 8:10 am)
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.
determinism89 (October 18, 2008 at 2:02 am)
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 (November 16, 2008 at 8:27 am)
Yes
determinism89 (October 18, 2008 at 1:58 am)
Can we do this while maintaining a steady enough state to generate electricity from it?
charliecorgan (October 11, 2008 at 7:15 am)
I think its Tedlar, also used as backsheet for solar modules. Insulating & very resistant plastic.
beartracksracing (September 29, 2008 at 6:17 pm)
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 (October 5, 2008 at 4:21 pm)
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.
beartracksracing (September 29, 2008 at 6:11 pm)
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.
beartracksracing (September 29, 2008 at 6:08 pm)
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.