The Tower of OZ Harnessing the power of the sun
With oil prices rising and an energy crunch biting everyone squarely in the ass, the Aussies have come up with a rather novel way to keep their cheeks intact.
The Australia Solar Tower project, spearheaded by EnviroMission Ltd., is one of the most ambitious solar endeavours ever attempted by man. Well into the planning phase, this $800 million project consists of a 20,000 acre glass canopy with a 1km hollow reinforced concrete tower sprouting from its centre. The idea is that as air within the canopy heats over the day, it rises up through the tower, turning turbines, producing electricity and saving 900,000 annual tonnes of greenhouse CO2 gases from entering the atmosphere.
A tower of this size could produce up to 200 megawatts of electricity — enough to power the roughly 200,000 homes in Hobart — and would be the largest manmade structure in the world. Nice.
This story originally appeared in Huck #001.
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