Solar tower

Ideas come from the land down under:

"The tower will be over there," Davey says, pointing to a spot a mile distant where a 1,600-foot structure will rise from the ocher-colored earth. Picture a 260-foot-diameter cylinder taller than the Sears Tower encircled by a two-mile-diameter transparent canopy at ground level. About 8 feet tall at the perimeter, where Davey has his feet planted, the solar collector will gradually slope up to a height of 50 to 60 feet at the tower's base.

Acting as a giant greenhouse, the solar collector will superheat the air with radiation from the sun. Hot air rises, naturally, and the tower will operate as a giant vacuum. As the air is sucked into the tower, it will produce wind to power an array of turbine generators clustered around the structure.

The result: enough clean, green electricity to power some 100,000 homes without producing a particle of pollution or a wisp of planet-warming gases.

While photovoltaic solar power has its place (including on my roof), I've often thought that there must be more efficient ways to turn solar power into electricity (most PV panels or shingles are in the 8 to 20% range). I have read about solar steam power plants; this is the first I've seen of a solar-wind power plant--basically using solar to provide the wind for your windmill. Combine these developments with some serious conservation, and a better battery, and, dare I say it, no more energy crisis? Of course, we would probably immediately proceed to develop wasteful new ways to use our new sustainable sources (I think I wrote this before, but I can't find it): SUV's the size of the places they're named for (Yukon, Dakota, Denali, etc.), outdoor air conditioning, political swiftboat ads projected onto the clouds, etc., until the whole surface of the earth was covered with solar collectors and we'd find ourselves with nothing to eat.

It would seem, even with all the waste that has gone on and the huge world population, that it is still possible to reach a comfortable, sustainable future for everyone. Unfortunately, our "leaders" prefer to fight to the death over the last remaining drops of oil, turning up the heat as they go.