
EnviroMission Plans Massive Solar Updraft Towers for Arizona - wglb
http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/01/06/enviromission-plans-massive-solar-updraft-towers-for-arizona/
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seldo
These towers are not very land-efficient compared to solar farms, but they are
very cheap to build. So it seems strange to build them in the US instead of a
large third-world nation.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_updraft_tower#History>

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docmach
Getting the power to the US from a large third world nation is probably not as
cheap as easy as building them in the US. There is also lots of land in
Arizona that isn't useful for very many things.

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seldo
I wasn't suggesting that we should route the power to the US from the third
world. I was saying third-world nations should build these plants, and the US
should build other kinds.

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hugh_
They're still a helluva lot more expensive than coal-powered plants, which is
what the third world is actually building.

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seldo
Which is where carbon-trading comes in. We give third-world nations extra
money so they can build these instead of coal plants. They give us their
carbon credit so we can continue to drive stretch Hummers. Win-win!

Except for the polar bears.

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mark_l_watson
Very cool, both tech-wise and for Arizona (where I live, and more local jobs
== a good thing).

I want to put solar panels on our roof (different tech, same motivations) and
my wife is just about talked into it. Most things that help the local economy
and help people be more self reliant are good things.

