On Monday, November 18, 2013 3:40:35 PM UTC-6, Martin Gregorie wrote:
On Mon, 18 Nov 2013 09:34:17 -0700, Dan Marotta wrote: At the risk of sounding political... Someone comes up with a way to make a lot of money off of those who don't know any better, but it sounds like it'll save the planet from demon coal, oil, and nuclear power. Does Solyndra ring a bell? Let's see... good reasons for doubting it chopped The question that needs answering is why dive in with an untested technology when its opposite, the solar UPdraft tower, is known and tested technology. There is a decent summary (with numbers) of solar downdraft technology he https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_downdraft_tower and similar detail of its opposite he https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_updraft_tower I think these points are also worth looking at: - the energy cost of pumping water to the top and spraying into the tower has been estimated as about 50% of the turbine's output, but AFAICT that excludes the cost of desalinating the sea water and pumping it to the base of the tower. Desalination is energetically expensive, so the overall system efficiency might be very small or even negative. - against that the solar updraft tower has the cost of building and maintaining a large solar roof at its base, but only maintenance costs thereafter. The 50kW Manzanares pilot project had a 0.53% efficiency, but calculations show a more modern 100kW unit might reach 1.3% - Billions of public money. A key point: always follow the money! Are the project sponsors putting their money where their mouth is? -- martin@ | Martin Gregorie gregorie. | Essex, UK org |

So many answers in the latest link Bill Palmer provided. And so many flaws continuing. And, getting worse.

In answer to your question, Martin, "No, the project sponsors are NOT putting their money where their mouth is." To quote the article, "Pickett said the company wouldn’t need to generate much of its own capital because it would license the technology to a project developer. The company is in talks with “a very credible, notable development company noted for its energy accomplishments,” Pickett said."

Hey, I have this great idea for turning your money into my money...