Since this seems to work on temperature differentials, could you run it up the side of a mountain? Seems you could get height differences of 5-7k feet in a lot of places with that approach...
Twice the height of the Empire State - massive solar tower for AZ
11–20 of 132 posts
Re: Twice the height of the Empire State - massive solar tower for AZ
#12Really? Very cool idea, but some of the claims sound downright ridiculous.
First, the zero maintenance claim that is touted at least 3 times by the article seems suspicious. You can't really leave anything out in the desert sun and not have to maintain or replace it. Sun will disintegrate a lot of material, not to mention wind and sand. Anybody have any info or insight into what material they are using to create the "greenhouse"?
Additionally, the claim that "In fact, because you're creating a greenhouse underneath, it actually turns out to be remarkably good for growing vegetation under there." does not seem to jibe at all with the claimed temperatures ("add in the greenhouse effect and you've got a temperature under your collector somewhere around 80-90 degrees (176-194 F)"). I'm not sure I'm familiar with any vegetation that grows in near 200 degree temperatures.
Does anyone have any actual experience with this kind of tech?
Re: Twice the height of the Empire State - massive solar tower for AZ
#13The Empire State is New York State: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State Or did the article headline really mean the empire state BUILDING? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building
Lovely, downvotes. Guess we don't have too many New Yorkers in the readership here. FYI, you can't shorten the Chrysler Building to 'Chrysler' either. That's a corporation.
No, it's because you're splitting hairs when the message was obvious. They used 'height' not 'elevation', and it is common knowledge that the Empire State (Building) was once the tallest building in the world.
Re: Twice the height of the Empire State - massive solar tower for AZ
#14Really? Very cool idea, but some of the claims sound downright ridiculous. First, the zero maintenance claim that is touted at least 3 times by the article seems suspicious. You can't really leave anything out in the desert sun and not have to maintain or replace it. Sun will disintegrate a lot of material, not to mention wind and sand. Anybody have any info or insight into what material they are using to create the…
Seems to me like you'd need to keep all the glass clean too, which means more manpower & water/air power to get all the crap off.
I'd be quite curious what the actual maintenance costs will be. Still, no feedstock into the process means that you'd have to have pretty serious component failure to bring the running costs up to oil plants presumably.
Re: Twice the height of the Empire State - massive solar tower for AZ
#15The Empire State is New York State: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State Or did the article headline really mean the empire state BUILDING? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building
From the article:
"To put that in context - it will stand more than double the height of the Empire State building in New York City"
Re: Twice the height of the Empire State - massive solar tower for AZ
#16Really? Very cool idea, but some of the claims sound downright ridiculous. First, the zero maintenance claim that is touted at least 3 times by the article seems suspicious. You can't really leave anything out in the desert sun and not have to maintain or replace it. Sun will disintegrate a lot of material, not to mention wind and sand. Anybody have any info or insight into what material they are using to create the…
Seems to me like you'd need to keep all the glass clean too, which means more manpower & water/air power to get all the crap off. I'd be quite curious what the actual maintenance costs will be. Still, no feedstock into the process means that you'd have to have pretty serious component failure to bring the running costs up to oil plants presumably.
Yes, but that brings up a good question. Anyone who owns a computer knows that air isn't pristine. It picks up all kinds of crap. If this beast has as much suction as the article implies, it's going to be inhaling all kinds of debris. I would guess it gets filtered so you don't damage the turbines, in which case somebody's going to have to be cleaning those filters pretty regularly.
Re: Twice the height of the Empire State - massive solar tower for AZ
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lovely, downvotes. Guess we don't have too many New Yorkers in the readership here. FYI, you can't shorten the Chrysler Building to 'Chrysler' either. That's a corporation.
No, it's because you're splitting hairs when the message was obvious. They used 'height' not 'elevation', and it is common knowledge that the Empire State (Building) was once the tallest building in the world.
'building' is not optional.
Re: Twice the height of the Empire State - massive solar tower for AZ
#1860%? Darn. I was hoping for better after the hype earlier in the article. Don't large steam plants approach 99%? 150,000 US Homes Is that a lot? I hate to (continue to) be a cynic, but it doesn't sound like a lot.
It claims 200MW/150,000 homes = 1.3KW for a US home !!!!
So homes in Arizona don't have AC or electrical appliances and are all owned by eco-warriors
Re: Twice the height of the Empire State - massive solar tower for AZ
#19Since this seems to work on temperature differentials, could you run it up the side of a mountain? Seems you could get height differences of 5-7k feet in a lot of places with that approach...
unless you had a perfectly vertical mountain your tower would end up being longer and costing more. if you did have a perfectly vertical mountain it would still be somewhat difficult to build on the side of a cliff.
I suppose you'd need a mountain in the desert as well.
Re: Twice the height of the Empire State - massive solar tower for AZ
#20Really? Very cool idea, but some of the claims sound downright ridiculous. First, the zero maintenance claim that is touted at least 3 times by the article seems suspicious. You can't really leave anything out in the desert sun and not have to maintain or replace it. Sun will disintegrate a lot of material, not to mention wind and sand. Anybody have any info or insight into what material they are using to create the…
This is inaccurate. You should at least know that moisture(water) is a big problem for most materials, more so than heat. Put your phone in the water, leave your bike outside, etc. It will rust.
This is why planes are routinely stored in the desert by the military. It's funny how people have a tendency to assert authority into areas of which they know little about. It may seem intuitive that the desert would not be an ideal place, that it would require a lot of maintenance - but maybe it's the opposite.
What do i know? I know that heat and uv radiation are not the only corrosive forces to materials. I know that water, is one of them. And i know that the desert lacks water, by definition. I'm not trying to play expert, but it irks me when people do, who are not.