This is just so cool. I'm curious about the local weather impact of something like this. Basically, what these guys are doing is creating a continuous, artificial thermal, the same type you use for flying hang gliders and sailplanes. I'm certain the guys have done the math, but I'm wondering if you won't get cloud formation above the tower due to condensation of the hot air rising through the tower.
Meteorological theory suggests that you would definitely get this if the airflow was not contained by the turbines, and cloud formation with the release of condensation heat would cause even more cloud formation which would basically result in a giant, permanent thundercloud above the power plant. This would obviously decrease insolation a lot.
Anyone in here who has done any theory on these kinds of projects? I'm just guessing based on my knowledge of gliding that a considerable amount of the energy collected from this power plant actually comes from the temperature differential between not just the solar energy collected directly underneath the tower. It isn't just the fact that hot air rises. Due to decreasing pressure, the air temperature of a mass of air decreases approximately one degree per hundred meters of altitude gained. But if the atmospheric temperature distribution due to meteorological conditions is such that the actual temperature in the atmosphere drops _more_ than one degree per hundred meters of altitude, you have an untapped energy source; any air mass set in motion upwards will actually accelerate instead of slowing down.
That we are making large-scale technology to exploit this is so ridiculously cool I have problems expressing it.
It's a desert. The air near the ground is usually pretty dry. That's why radiation cooling makes things cool off so much at night (instead of making clouds and fog).
Meteorological theory suggests that you would definitely get this if the airflow was not contained by the turbines, and cloud formation with the release of condensation heat would cause even more cloud formation which would basically result in a giant, permanent thundercloud above the power plant. This would obviously decrease insolation a lot.
Anyone in here who has done any theory on these kinds of projects? I'm just guessing based on my knowledge of gliding that a considerable amount of the energy collected from this power plant actually comes from the temperature differential between not just the solar energy collected directly underneath the tower. It isn't just the fact that hot air rises. Due to decreasing pressure, the air temperature of a mass of air decreases approximately one degree per hundred meters of altitude gained. But if the atmospheric temperature distribution due to meteorological conditions is such that the actual temperature in the atmosphere drops _more_ than one degree per hundred meters of altitude, you have an untapped energy source; any air mass set in motion upwards will actually accelerate instead of slowing down.
That we are making large-scale technology to exploit this is so ridiculously cool I have problems expressing it.