GE proposes to use artificial sink to generate 500 MW of power inSouthern AZ

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...

Billions of public money.
Use of public lands for private enterprise.
Untested technology.
Mineral laden water (or the energy expense of demineralization).
International pipeline.
Probably kill some endangered diatom or algae.
Drain the Sea of Cortez, thus changing the center of gravity of the earth,
causing it to begin wobbling on its axis and hurtling out of its orbit onto
a collision course with the sun.

Wait a minute... Closer to the sun means better thermals! Damn the
torpedoes, let's do it!

"Cedric Sponge" wrote in message
...

I donâ?Tt understand the explanation of how this works. The article says
that making the air moist makes it heavier. When I was at school I was
taught that water vapour is lighter than air and that moist air is less
dense than dry air so why would making the air moist cause it to sink?

I think the people who wrote the article don't quite understand how this
works.

Surely its the evaporation that is important rather than the wetting of
the
air.




At 15:57 17 November 2013, Dan Marotta wrote:
You should see the solar towers southwest of Primm, NV (just inside CA),
USA. The top of the tower, surrounded by acres and acres of focused
mirrors
appears to glow white hot. You can also see a dark cloud around the
tower.

I wonder if that's plasma from super heated air or just the remains of
passing bugs and birds...


"John Firth" wrote in message
...
I bet desalinated water is more valuable in Arizona as
irrigation or domestic supply; unbelievable.
The downdraft tower would be the inverse of the
Australian 1km solar power tower; I have seenno news since 2011.
JMF



At 15:38 29 October 2013, Dan Marotta wrote:
They said they'd pump "desalinated" water, so there's gonna be quite
some

construction and energy expense on the intake end, as well.

And a nuclear reactor wouldn't be near as expensive, I'd wager, were it
not

for the DOE. Remember, the government couldn't make a profit running a
whore house that also sold whiskey in Nevada, so why should we believe
they

make a better nuclear plant?


"Dave Springford" wrote in message
...
The first article is a technically better where it shows the
evaporative
cooling creating the down draft, so that part has been explained.

It also says the water will be brought in from the Sea of Cortez 48
miles

away. So what's the cost model for building a pipe line and pumping
water

48 miles? substantially cheaper than a nuclear reactor, I guess.
This
project would seem to be significantly more expensive than regular wind
turbines - not that we like those either.