To: WSFAlist at keithlynch.net
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 06:53:35 -0400
Subject: [WSFA] Fw: 760 GWH/Y power plant visible from 50 miles
From: ronkean at juno.com
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 14:16:58 EDT
To: extropians at extropy.org
Subject: [WSFA] Power Tower and Greens

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992688

Kilometre-tall power tower approved

14:35 19 August 02

NewScientist.com news service

Plans for a one-kilometre tall "Solar Tower" that would provide clean
energy for up to 200,000 homes have been approved by the Australian
government.

But some environmental campaigners are questioning the practical benefits
of the scheme.

The 130 metre-wide tower would produce electricity using currents of air
heated by the Sun's rays.  The tower itself would be surrounded by a vast
greenhouse, seven kilometers across.  Hot air inside the greenhouse would
be effectively sucked up the tower through turbines at its base.

Heat-storing material inside the greenhouse would continue to heat air
during the night.

The massive structure would be more than twice as tall as the Petronas
Towers in Kuala Lumpar, and visible from 80 kilometres away.

Australian company EnviroMission plans to build it in the desert on the
border between New South Wales and Victoria.  Australia's federal
industry minister put the £308m project into a fast-track planning
process on Thursday.

Fossil fuels EnviroMission says the building would generate 760
gigawatt-hours of energy per year.

Roger Higman, senior climate campaigner for Friends of the Earth, is
concerned that construction costs could outweigh the potential benefits.

"If they're planning to build a truly enormous tower they could use a lot
of fossil fuels," Higman told New Scientist.  "It's not as if we are
short of ways to generate electricity without using fossil fuels."

Higman adds that a conventional wind farm could produce a comparable
amount of power without requiring so much construction work.

A smaller 200 metre tall prototype Solar Tower was built by a Spanish and
German team in Spain in 1982.  If the New South Wales state authority
gives approval for the new tower, construction work could begin in 2003
and the structure could be completed by 2005.

Will Knight .

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