The Solar Wind Downdraft Tower, a massive engineering project that will generate clean and cost-effective and efficient energy by combining state-of-the art innovative technologies with non-toxic natural elements, received a green light from the City Council of San Luis, Arizona, to begin construction works, last week.
If all goes according to plan, the Tower could be fully operational already in 2018, with virtually no fuel consumption, no waste and zero carbon footprint.
There is no doubt that now more than ever developing and exploring alternative energy sources is essential. This is why, innovations that combine efficiency with renewable energy production, are being stimulated and funded all over the world, to reach the common goal to cut down, and hopefully soon eliminate completely, harmful emissions.
One such project comes from Solar Wind Energy Tower, Inc., the inventors of the currently one and only hybrid solar-wind technology. The Solar Wind Downdraft Tower is a unique development, which has the potential to tackle all limitations currently associated with alternative energy sources, by combining solar rays with water in order to create power from a natural downdraft.
What makes the technology unique is its capacity to produce as much as 1000 megawatt hours, out of which only 17% would go for powering the system, offering to the grid the remaining 600 megawatt hours at 70% capacity factor. The tower itself will be a hollow cylinder, which has a water spray system near its top. The water that is pumped to this system evaporates and gets absorbed by the hot air thanks to the solar rays of the sun. Once this happens, the now cool air drops and it enters wind tunnels fitted with wind turbines at the base.
The self-sustaining system will be built at a 600 acres- large site within the City of San Luis, Arizona. The location is specifically chosen due to its easy access from highways, great connections to rail services, close proximity to utilities, and near-perfect for the purpose weather conditions. The Solar Wind Downdraft Tower will operate for a minimum of 50 years, as stated in the new agreement, which brings the project from a development stage to a full scale construction.
If you are interested to see how the system would work, follow this link, where you can find a short but great video.
Image (c) Solar Wind Energy Tower, Inc.
If I remember my history, The Etruscan’s built the the first “Cooling Tower”, back around 650-BCE.