SCI/TECH: Aussie Solar Tower Finds Home

The good folks behind a mind-bending alternative energy engineering project called the EnviroMission Solar Tower has purchased a location where they plan on building their 3280 foot hollow tower. The project originally slated to begin this year has unfortunately been pushed back to 2006 due to budgetary constraints, but on a more positive note EnviroMission has just signed a joint-venture agreement with a Chinese company that will build several solar towers in China.



This is one of those projects that just makes you speechless at the ingenuity and audacity of mankind. If successfully built each Mile high Solar Tower will each generate an estimated 200 megawatts, enough electricity to power two hundred thousand homes and will keep 830,000 tons of greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere annually.

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
bio-fuels, hemp, solar wind geothermal hydro, grey-water recycling, compost toilets, rainwater colle

I love the project!

they had a working proof of concept in spain years ago. But this is the kind of scale that stuns and imposes awe on the beholder and the kind of scale we need to afford having so many people on this earth.

It would be very positive development if china starts to build a bunch of them , maybe that could significantly relieve some strain from their coal dependance. Especially the dry but sunbathing Gobi dessert seems a prime candidate for solartowers.

Also , solar towers would be interesting to have on Venus, the difference between pressure/temperature at the surface of venus and the higher atmosphere, multiplies the potential output by more than 100 times.

A (considered by many) legendary internet sociopath by the name of Brad Guth, who persistenly pushes some venus is inhabitad by Reptillians agenda and accuses NASA of falsification of photographes has a actually an interesting article about venus solartowers....

Personally , I have wondered why they are trying to build this 1 km tower with a concrete tupe, wouldnt it be nice to have helium pressured ballloon in the shape of a large chimney, with negative or neutral weight, just anchored to the surface and ket stationary by cables?

Perhaps they coulld pressure the balloon with ammoniak , this is slightly less dense than normal air and will rise as well and conndens into liquid in the upper parts of the tower, could be some additional energy , delivered by the structural material itselve...


[edit on 24-2-2005 by Countermeasures]

Wow. sardion. This is absolutely wonderful. ...and China's smart enough to buy into the project, huh?

Wonder what our guys are doing. Probably still investing in oil futures.




.

25 thousand acres and a mile high tower to produce how many kilowatts? For each device? Such a device would never be allowed here. The environmental luddited would go nuts, screaming of everyhting from disruptions to bird migratory paths, increased heat energy at the top of the tower affecting weather, and all the poor plants and animals disturbed by the creation. It's all be Bush's fault, of course.

Here is a demonstration of why China will become the dominating force in economy and military theaters for generations-they do what they need to, and don't allow internal special interests to sabotage their every move. They have no problem with ignoring environmental concerns (whether real or hyped up junk science), worldwide opinion, or their own population to acheive what they see as the longer-term solutions. With a slight paradigm shift in their government and education systems, they would be unstoppable for a century or more.

Best we keep praising Chinese bulldozer innovation, because it'll improve our standing with them when they're no longer in need of America as consumers-just remember we're all "foreign devils" in the end.

kilowatts

Kilowatts??? Try Megawatts 200 of em to be exact, I agree the enviro-luddites(just a note not all Environmentalists are Neo-Luddites) will be against this, even though it could potentially turn 25,000 acres of desert into FARMLAND! The circular part acts like a greenhouse and also collects some moisture. It's cool stuff, I was actually expting it to start the project last month, oh well at least the Aussies seem committed to building the thing. As are the Chinese. Canada would never build something like this, no point really, I would love to see it being built in the USA though, as it would be alot easier for me to visit it then say in China or Australia heh.

sorry, my bad. Megawatts. Which a good pebbel-bed nuclear reactor could turn out in a thousandth of the space for a lot less

No, not all environemtnalists fir the luddite bill. What really bugs me are the ones now protesting the wind farms here in CA, because they disturb the birds, and demand they be taken down (and yes, they're powerful and taken seriously). And the guys who block the developement of tidal devices because it requires shore development and that's a "bad" thing. Hydroelectric dams, highly efficient devices, are being ordered destroyed because of effects on fish migrations (tho I'm pretty sure it has more to do with fishing and gillnetting than just the dam).

Damned if we do, damned if we don't. Any power generation system will demand an installation, and may inconvenience someone or something somewhere.

But a lot of these "elite" thinking folks simply point out that we oughta go totally agrarian, and just need to get rid of a few billion human lives. Of course, it's someone else's lives that need to go. Bah.

Originally posted by sardion2000

kilowatts

Kilowatts??? Try Megawatts 200 of em to be exact, I agree the enviro-luddites(just a note not all Environmentalists are Neo-Luddites) will be against this, even though it could potentially turn 25,000 acres of desert into FARMLAND! The circular part acts like a greenhouse and also collects some moisture. It's cool stuff, I was actually expting it to start the project last month, oh well at least the Aussies seem committed to building the thing. As are the Chinese. Canada would never build something like this, no point really, I would love to see it being built in the USA though, as it would be alot easier for me to visit it then say in China or Australia heh.

No, not all environemtnalists fir the luddite bill. What really bugs me are the ones now protesting the wind farms here in CA, because they disturb the birds, and demand they be taken down

Well there is an easy way to fix that, make the turbines BIGGER. The bigger they are the slower they turn to generate the same amount of electricity. A good pebble bed reactor will be good to, but that produces waste. This way once its up and running it will produce NO waste and also have the dual use of being able to farm underneath the (i do not know what to call that big circular thing at the base of the tower) it can act like a greenhouse. Every climate will probably use different methods. This is really out of the box thinking. Also on another note I believe somewhere was said that this concept gets more effient the bigger it is. Lets hope Nanotubes become commodities soon so they can build some huge suckers. I wonder what the limit would be though....

EDIT: BTW I am in the Enviro camp that still believes that we can have our cake and eat it too so to speak

[edit on 24-2-2005 by sardion2000]

They should really think about co-generation. They have alot of heat near the bottem of the tower, enough to probably generate another 200-500 megawatts of electricity. If they tiled the inside of the tower with powerchips, they could accomplish this... probably.

Heh I did some estimates on the amount of energy that could be extracted via powerchips if the entire inside was tiled.... you won't believe the numbers. The estimates I got where based on powerchips power estimates 5000 watts/cm^2, they put the energy output at about, get this
731,096,500,212 watts!!Even at a conversative 1000 watts/cm^2 the numbers are staggering, 146,219,300,042.4 watts. Forget the fans, use the chips lol, ofcourse the fans will help too! If this did this they would have enough energy to power the entire planet!

They would need around 146 million of the powerchips though....



[edit on 27-2-2005 by Sigma]

Sigma - hope you write the Aussies with your recommendation. They already might have considered it, but you never know.

Originally posted by Sigma
Heh I did some estimates on the amount of energy that could be extracted via powerchips if the entire inside was tiled.... you won't believe the numbers. The estimates I got where based on powerchips power estimates 5000 watts/cm^2, they put the energy output at about, get this
731,096,500,212 watts!!Even at a conversative 1000 watts/cm^2 the numbers are staggering, 146,219,300,042.4 watts. Forget the fans, use the chips lol, ofcourse the fans will help too! If this did this they would have enough energy to power the entire planet!

They would need around 146 million of the powerchips though....



[edit on 27-2-2005 by Sigma]

That is amazing, allthough it would make it useless as a greenhouse though. Maybe some of them can have these powerchips(have a link btw? I have heard of them and had the link but lost it) and some of them just have farmland.

Great team work sardion, sigma.

Really - I hope you do something with this info. Don't just sit on it.

yeah it is www.powerchips.gi. Ofcourse don't quote on the amount of power it can supply, I did some really basic math to figure it out and I KNOW it is no where accurate, its just a basic estimate given the surface area of the tower(which I don't know what the radius, so I guessed by looking at their videos). Still the power this place could supply would no doubt be tremendous. I follow powerchips closely, but they really haven't released much current info, except for the fact that they are working on packaging(still a major hurdle).

I agree with you on the greenhouse effect, it might disrupt the airflow and temperature enough to make the farming idea not work. However you could always have 1 or 2 of these towers and the rest to agricultural means.

BTW, you would have to create like 4 or 5 plants just to make the chips on an assembly line and it would probably take a few years. Worth it? I think so.

Soficrow- I plan on writing them an e-mail later tonight or tommorow. I hope they atleast think about it. Ofcourse maybe it would supply TOO much power if you know what I mean...



[edit on 27-2-2005 by Sigma]

I am currently working with Dynamic Laboratories founder Joseph Keezer to get a 3d model and animation done of his design on this concept. Hopefully he will get funding to build it in Las Vegas.

Originally posted by soficrow
Great team work sardion, sigma.

Really - I hope you do something with this info. Don't just sit on it.

We have already done something by just talking about it. Spreading the Meme's, hoping they go viral The more we talk about such subject the better chance that someone in the loop so to speak will sit back and think "Hey thats a really good idea, Why hasn't been thought of before!" It's one of the reason I go to this site.

The energy would be substantial, they could use the extra energy to create hydrogen for cars or use it for lightcraft in the laser systems opening up space travel. The project would be daunting, akin to the hoover dam, but it would allow for a sustainable economy.

Originally posted by soficrow

Wow. sardion. This is absolutely wonderful. ...and China's smart enough to buy into the project, huh?

Wonder what our guys are doing. Probably still investing in oil futures.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Biomass Program develops technology for conversion of biomass (plant-derived material) to valuable fuels, chemicals, materials and power, so as to reduce dependence on foreign oil and foster growth of biorefineries. Biomass is one of our most important energy resources. The largest U.S. renewable energy source every year since 2000, it also provides the only renewable alternative for liquid transportation fuel. Biomass use strengthens rural economies, decreases America's dependence on imported oil, avoids use of MTBE or other highly toxic fuel additives, reduces air and water pollution, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Today's biomass uses include ethanol, biodiesel, biomass power, and industrial process energy.

Excerpted from.
www.eere.energy.gov...


That's one of the programs the US has, anything else you want to add soficrow?........

Muaddib, I am personally very aware of the current Biofuels trend and actually have a Biodiesel pump just down the street from my house. What are the growth rates though? It's been pretty dismal in Ontario so far, the rural area's don't seem to be picking it up any faster either, what do you think is the hold up?

Originally posted by sardion2000
Muaddib, I am personally very aware of the current Biofuels trend and actually have a Biodiesel pump just down the street from my house. What are the growth rates though? It's been pretty dismal in Ontario so far, the rural area's don't seem to be picking it up any faster either, what do you think is the hold up?

For the same reason that China and most countries in the world won't pick up the pace on their alternative energy programs, because whether we like it or not, our economies are dependent on oil, so any changes towards another source of energy must come in small steps, or we face bankrupcy. At least that's where i see the problem lies.

[edit on 27-2-2005 by Muaddib]

This is one of the best threads on ATSNN right now in my opinion. All the creative ideas, not to mention the fact that just hearing about this thing going up is absolutley excellent news.

OIL WILL DISSAPEAR!