Tower of Power

I have sometimes described myself as a "pragmatic environmentalist." That is the kind of description that is likely to earn disdain from both extremes of many debates, but that's okay. I can deal, and I think in many cases it allows me a good perspective on practical things we can do without becoming too "head in the clouds" to come up with viable things we can do.

With that as background, I have to say that I absolutely love this idea. The Aussies have come up with a plan to build a tower that uses solar energy to heat air, which then naturally rises through a "chimney" and turns turbines to create electricity. They are predicting that a single installation will be able to provide enough energy to run a small city, which is pretty good. It's a truly emission-free method for producing energy without using up precious natural resources, and sounds like it has great potential for the future. It's probably too early to say with certainty whether it's a viable idea in many places, but it's the kind of thinking and experimentation that is worth encouraging moving forward.

The structure will be 1600 feet tall... so don't build it near an airport.