Tower Of Power

There have been many recommendations as to reducing the “carbon footprint” left by the use of coal and petroleum products, especially as to the generation of electrical power. Some of these proposals are: Nuclear fission plants (What to do with the radio-active waste products?); Wind driven turbines (Apparently OK except off the shores of Senator Kennedy's estate; But, otherwise limited in other locations by terrain, average wind flow, bird migration patterns, etc.); Geo-Thermal “heat wells” (Drilled at a very high cost and requiring water supplies often not readily available in the proper geological areas); Solar reflector arrays with photo-electric cells (VERY expensive) or closed circuit hot fluid-to-steam turbines (One of the better ideas, but dependent on sunshine-per-year amounts and availability of vast spaces); And, some others I cannot recall.

Yet, there is one proposal about which little has been written or, as far as I can tell, considered. That is the use (Especially in desert areas) of a “tower of power”, being a very tall (1000') chimney (As used in many coal fired electric power plants or ore refining facilities; Some still existing without current use), having about it four-to-ten air intakes above the ground effect level (20'-plus), using the heat rising effect to draw in air from the surrounding area and passing it through moderate-to-slow turbines at each such intake or one large, multi-stage, turbine in the stack, all to generate electrical power.

By experiment, gates could be installed to open in the eye of any wind to increase air flow.

I suspect that this type of devise would work best in the hot and dry environment of a desert (eg Southern California, Arizona, parts of Australia, Israel) where the power produced would vary as the day's heat (Which would assist in providing power during the high-demand, air-conditioning, parts of the day).

Of course, we might “go to the source” and erect such a tower over the Capitol Building in Washington (DC), EU headquarters, the UN (Useless Nations) HQ AND, of course, so many academic buildings.