by Michael Ryan
Coming up with new and innovative approaches to creating renewable energy should be the domain of any clever Global Citizen, and we should all put our collective thinking caps on to get this done!
In the ever growing, wide open Green Sector, New Ideas may not only save the Planet but could make a savvy investor the next member of the Billionaire Club. For anyone interested in the idea of “Going Green” itself as well as the practical potential for renewable energy creation from a purely immediate benefits standpoint, the potential return on investment for the Capitalist willing to gamble on new Green Tech ideas is great.
Enter an old idea with some new found energy: Solar Updraft Technology.
I found the following article on Solar Updraft technologies on the NYT Energy and Environment Page. I was pleasantly surprised and then actually became excited at the prospect of something so simple and green friendly as creating electricity from rising hot air. (Yes I know, if they could only capture my hot air…)! The technology was proposed by a German in 2001 and initial projects did create a working prototype that generated 50kW. However, further development was halted due to lack of funding. Now a company called EnviroMission Ltd. has opened an office in Phoenix AZ with a proposal on the board to create a facility with a close to mile high tower. If the project goes forward, not only do we have to potential to lead the world in Green Energy creation, but we might employ perhaps 1000’s of American’s desperate for jobs.
How cool is that!
Here is part of the article from the NYT…More at the Green Room Page.
The solar updraft tower, which uses the greenhouse effect and thermal convection to drive wind turbines and produce electricity, has been hailed as a novel — and promising — approach to renewable energy generation.
The technology relies on an elementary principle of physics: heat rises. To generate power, a massive greenhouse creates hot air and funnels it into a tall chimney-like structure. This ‘hot wind’ propels a wind turbine within the tower. According to some estimates, such towers could, if sufficiently large and located in the proper environment, generate emissions-free power at a considerable discount over traditional renewable sources.
<More at The Green Room>
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