Some of you Neatoramanauts out there seemed to have been tickled pink by the idea of melting steel with the Sun's rays. So, I thought it would be a great idea to show you another clip and this one is just as tantalizingly enjoyable to watch. Well, you can all thank Dale from the comments for pointing out to me this clip. So Dale...thank you. :)
What you see here is James May visiting the
It's a highly intelligent and efficient form of producing renewable energy and it doesn't have - from what I understand - any environmental repercussions. It apparently works so well that the Spanish Government has decided to build a few more. I wonder what it would take to convince some of the nations in the Equatorial regions to build some of these types of structures and become suppliers of energy. It could provide jobs and bring in essential foreign investments thus boosting their economies.
*Update - Thanks for the heads up in the comments for the mistake. Indeed it is the THIRD solar tower project! ;)
Well? Where is it? Put the next episode up!
Let's just read the excerpt from Wikipedia :
"By 2004, 61% [yes 61!!!!]of the region's electricity was generated by renewable sources consisting of 43.6% from 28 wind farms, 12% from over 100 small-scale water turbines, and 5.3% from 2 biomass and 2 biogas plants. In addition, the region had what was then Spain's largest photovoltaic power plant at Montes de Cierzo de Tudela (1.2 MWp capacity) plus several hundred smaller photovoltaic installations"
Go Spain!
Why do you think they would let the water vapors escape?
They don't do that at coal or nuclear power plants so why would they with this one. It cools down after going trough the turbine.
Apparently "microwave technology could be applied for wireless energy transmission through space, and to the planet's surface".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_solar_power
I'm a big fan of James May - anyone know what the name of this series is?
I believe this show of James May is called "James May's Big Ideas" - http://www.open2.net/jamesmay/index.html
@ zav and michael
D’oh! Thanks for pointing out to me that the tower is indeed the third of its kind. Fixed! ;)
What about the poor birds that fly through and get cooked? Somebody has to stand up for their rights too!