First large-scale solar updraft towers to be operational in 2015

The very 1st large-scale solar updraft towers will start operating in 2015, being built and deployed by EnviroMission, a start-up that makes use of purchased land in Arizona. The solar updraft towers are some 800 meters high, which is more then double the height as the Empire State Building. Each solar updraft tower generates 200 mW clean, fully renewable energy which is more then enough to provide electricity to 150,000 homes and equivalent to removing 220,000 environment-polluting cars from our roads.

These solar updraft towers function by combining 3 old and proven technology methods: the chimney-effect, the greenhouse-effect, and the wind-turbine. While air is being heated up by the sun's heatwaves and immediately contained in a big structure around the updraft tower's base, the resulting convection causes the hot air to travel upwards. This airflow drives turbines which in turn produces power.

The solar updraft towers have many big advantages. Because this technology works on the principle of  temperature differential and not absolute temperature, they work in any type of weather. Since the heat of the day warms up the ground surface, the solar ypdraft towers continue to work at nighttime. And because large areas of hot, dry land reap the best results, the towers can be built on otherwise useless pieces of land, for example in the middle of the desert.

The solar updraft towers use no resources as coal, gasoline or uranium, just natural resources like air and sunlight. The towers also emit no pollution at all. The only "emission" is hot air from the top of the tower. In essence, because of the greenhouse underneath, they could as well be used for growing any forms of vegetation. The solar updraft towers require almost no maintenance and they will last for almost a hundred years. This state-of-the-art technology offers a great amount of hope forour future. Once proven to be commercially feasible, they are ready to be built and used on a larger scale.