Solar Chimney

The Solar Chimney, also called a Solar Tower to avoid confusion with polluting industrial chimneys is coming to the forefront of green power. While not a new idea-it was first proposed in 1903 by Isidoro Cabanyes-it is just recently getting attention. Put simply the solar tower is a giant chimney like structure surrounded by a massive green house. Solar towers utilize the well known property to hot air, it rises. It uses this on a much larger scale. The green house surrounding the tower is warmed by the sun to well over 100 degrees. this hot air rises towards the center where the actual tower is. The temperature difference between the bottom of the tower and the top(which is over 1000 meters up) is enormous at this point. The hot air rises turning a turbine and electricity is generated with no burning of any fuel whatsoever.

The solar updraft tower is not meant to be placed everywhere. It is only most effective in areas of high solar potential as shown by the map.
As you can see the areas with the highest potential are also arid deserts. This is where the solar tower is a win-win situation for these areas. In addition to supplying power to surrounding towns and cities (one tower can provide power for around 250,000 homes)it can also act as a farm. The green house around the tower would provide the perfect environment to grow crops.
The tower would also provide tourism opportunities. When built it would be the tallest man-made structure on the planet.The only major drawback to the solar tower is its cost. A tower capable of providing clean electricity to 250,000 homes would cost upwards of 1 billion dollars. (thats $1,000,000,000)However, the positives are also quite great.
>It can provide clean and reliable power to 250,000 homes
>It also provides an area to raise crops in
>It presents tourism opportunities
>Given the last two statements, the presence of a tower would provide a boost to local economies

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well that's all I got on this subject for today
see you guys tomorrow