The Solar Tower

Will it disrupt the weather in the area surrounding it? Co-Published with Gadgetopia

An Australian company, EnviroMission Limited, is blasting forward with plans to build a totally new type of clean power generating facility. Their concept consists of a monstrous tube that reaches 1000 meters (that’s 3280.84 feet) into the sky and is surrounded by a huge glass solar collector. The idea is for sunlight to hit the solar collector, warming the air below, which rises up the tower, driving a bunch of turbines to generate electricity. 

It’s a great idea, what with the clean electricity that will be produced, but you’ve got to wonder what kind of unintended consequences might result from operating one, or several, of these puppies. The solar tower will basically be pumping huge volumes of air to places it wouldn’t ordinarily go. I’m no meteorologist, but it seems that doing something like that would tend to disrupt the way the weather works in the area surrounding the tower.