Solar Tower 4

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1. 

   jdhlax Posted 5:48 am
   01 Mar 2005

   Reductionist ThinkingSorry Dave, but I have to strongly oppose this project.  First, we don't need monstrously large solar towers.  We need solar panels on all rooftops, far more energy efficiency, and elimination of needless use of electricity.  Unnatural largeness goes against ecological principles, and this is a perfect example.
   Second, the proposed location of the proposed tower will undoubtedly destory a good part of the ecosystem in the proposed location, as well as requiring those hideous power lines to run the electricity to the users.  The outback?!  Gimme a break!  Even if ridiculously large towers like this were needed, they should be placed in cities, not natural areas.

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2. 

   Lisa Hymas Posted 8:48 am
   01 Mar 2005

   Not exactly small and localOne does have to wonder how they would get all that power to a place where it could actually be used. Presumably there isn't major demand for energy in that remote corner of the outback. The solar tower does go contrary to the idea of small, decentralized power generation, which is increasingly being advocated by smart folks thinking about sustainable power systems -- and thinking about protecting power supplies from sabotage and terrorist attacks. (Plus, a lot of power is wasted during the long-distance transmission of electricity.)
   The big East Coast blackout of '03 perfectly illustrated the case against huge grids and centralized power stations, as pointed out by Amory Lovins and his RMI colleague Kyle Datta, who's cited in Amanda Griscom's Grist article about the lessons we should learn from that whopping power failure.  
   Geeks can read more about the wonders of decentralized power systems at SmallIsProfitable.org.

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3. 

   Ender Posted 4:44 pm
   01 Mar 2005

   Solar TowerThe area that it is being built in is farmland near Mildura (not really the outback) which is quite close to the electricity supply.  The actual canopy is will not affect the ground very much.  Even though panels on roofs is a good idea there still needs to be a baseload.  Solar towers can provide a lot of this.  If you take my idea of solar methane that uses a small Solar Tower to extract CO2 from the air to react with hydrogen to form methane the tower can be placed anywhere there is a natural gas pipeline.
   
   If you want to read about Solar Methane the go to my blog at this URL http://stevegloor.typepad.com/sgloor/2005/03/updated_methane.html
   
   Stephen Gloor
   
   Perth
   
   Western Australia

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4. 

   peter melia Posted 7:27 am
   16 May 2005

   Solar Tower.First of all, Funnels.
   
   The first century, at least, of our modern world was enabled by funnels, in steamships and trains. Without those funnels it is possible that our modern civilisation would never have got going. We have only to look at old pictures and photos of steamships with 3 or 4 enormous funnels to get some idea of what was being achieved in those days, in the search for Power. Or look at those magnificent locomotives, roaring ahead with their squat funnels belching smoke...
   
   That's where we all came from.  
   
   The Solar Tower, being a giant funnel, perhaps may be regarded as a "joke of history", a reminder that progress is not linear but helical, almost, but not quite, repeating itself. (As an example of Helical Progress, consider the modern car, with its Common Rail fuel injection system, seeming sometimes, from the hype, to be the best thing since sliced bread).
   
   Sixty-odd years ago, when I first went to sea, in an ancient diesel engined ship, the engines consisted of two mighty Werkspoor 14 cylinder engines, stretching away down the engine room, each with a common rail fuel pump, each with a spare pump "linked out" in case of emergency. We were ever so pleased when the common rail gave way to solid injection, which the car industry is now abandoning.
   
   The point is, the Solar Tower funnel is an intrinsically sound engineering project, with hundreds of thousands of working precursors. So we can take it as read that it will work.
   
   OK they are building the first plant miles from anywhere in Oz, the second perhaps in Arizona, Nevada or wherever, but when the concept becomes "comfortable", the sky is the limit. What is to stop a new town being build beneath a Solar Tower umbrella, which would supply the communitys energy needs? Danger? It would be like building a town in a greenhouse.              
   
   Peter Melia

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