Massive Solar Updraft Towers Planned For Arizona 572
MikeChino writes "Australia-based EnviroMission Ltd recently announced plans to build two solar updraft towers that span hundreds of acres in La Paz County, Arizona. Solar updraft technology sounds promising enough: generate hot air with a giant greenhouse, channel the air into a chimney-like device, and let the warm wind turn a wind turbine to produce energy. The scale of the devices would be staggering — each plant would consist of a 2,400 foot chimney over a greenhouse measuring four square miles. The Southern California Public Power Authority has approved EnviroMission as a provider, although there’s still plenty of work to be done before the $750 million, 200 megawatt project can begin."
A better location (Score:4, Funny)
They should build it in Washington DC
Re:Plenty of consulting dollars to be spent (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Plenty of consulting dollars to be spent (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Do a small scale pilot first (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Do a small scale pilot first (Score:4, Funny)
I call bullshit. If environmental activists are protesting in a desert location, are they not Browns?
Re:Efficiency (Score:5, Funny)
Is there some efficiency to be gained by building a four square mile device over, say, 2560 one acre devices? Energy efficiency? Cost?
Yes. Yes.
the american way... (Score:5, Funny)
No, no, no, you have it all wrong!
Amerika will pay Australia to buy from an American corporation. The American corporation will in turn import all the raw materials from china and help the Australian firm find a bunch of minimum wage mexicans to build the thing.
The only question is... which south american country will supply the hookers and blow for this project?
Find volcano, run $500,000 pipe of water near it (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Do a small scale pilot first (Score:5, Funny)
A 4 square mile greenhouse in the middle of the dessert?
I, for one, will not stand up to these people interrupting dessert!
Can we still make fun of him in 2010? (Score:5, Funny)
physics (Score:4, Funny)
You keep using that word...
Re:Efficiency (Score:2, Funny)
Thanks for clearing that up for me, sport.
-Peter
Thanks, Wiseguy (Score:3, Funny)
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Re:Hot air injection at 2400 feet? (Score:4, Funny)
I'm guessing it will kill every rabbit and turtle up there.
Super Flux Capacitor (Score:3, Funny)
A giant sun tower or two in Arizona is an interesting idea. But it makes more sense to build a huge lightning capacitor.
There's this place in Arizona where lightning strikes are common and happen nearly every night. Something in the atmosphere, the heat, and humidity.
So why not dig a huge hole in the ground, fill it with aluminum foil and electrolytic, then quickly and carefully build a huge lightning rod. The lightning will constantly arc to the giant million farad capacitor in the ground. It gets recharged up every night and the 'supercap' powers a small city or suburb.
Electricity directly from the sky to your PC!
Green Energy? (Score:3, Funny)
So we have given up and are going to proactively warm the earth's atmosphere directly now?
Re:I can't help but wonder... (Score:5, Funny)
Seems like an interesting idea, replacing the tall tower with an air vortex. But I think the risks have to be researched beforehand. What you create here is a giantic tornado, so how is it guaranteed that this tornado won't suddenly rip off the base and start wandering around?!
Pack trailer parks around the base. That'll keep that tornado fixed firmly in place.
Re:Other turbine proposals... (Score:4, Funny)
you spelled HOLE wrong...
Per hops asia result of depending on spill chick.
Re:Should be cheaper than solar (Score:3, Funny)
Personally I'd be in favour of any solution that didn't involve burning stuff you had to dig up out of the dirt.
Hmm, perhaps I should do more market research before finishing production of my dead hooker electrical generator...
Re:Can we still make fun of him in 2010? (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah... how dare someone in the government build infrastructure with our tax dollars.
The teabaggers shall not let this aggression stand!
Re:The desert isn't a wasteland (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Green Energy? (Score:5, Funny)
Good luck solving any problems without causing new ones. Unfortunately for the human race, perfect foresight is fictional.
After reading the earlier comment regarding urination problems (I should have passed it by), I unfortunately read 'foresight' as 'foreskin'. Sigh.
Re:Wet toilet seats a problem? (Score:5, Funny)
I hate to nitpick grammar, but I am pretty sure that "penis" is always masculine singular, i.e. "his penis."
Re:Wet toilet seats a problem? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Green Energy? (Score:2, Funny)
Green energy plants in Minnesota to generate cheap heat and light: $7 billion.
Plane tickets, Minneapolis St. Paul to Phoenix departing tomorrow: $147 each or $767,397,771 for all 5,220,393 residents of Minnesota.
I'm going to channel Sam Kinnison here: "Move to where the warm is!" You are dangerously close to Canada.
Re:I can't help but wonder... (Score:4, Funny)
Someone failed physics, but applied for a patent anyway.
Apparently tornadoes and hurricanes have failed physics, too.
Re:Green Energy? (Score:1, Funny)
Perfect foreskin is frictional is what I read.
Re:Plenty of consulting dollars to be spent (Score:4, Funny)
Ass Pot: It's the good shit.