In Arizona near the Mexican border, land has been leased and plans are underway to build a massive renewable energy power source called the Downdraft Tower. Capable of generating clean energy without leaving behind a carbon footprint, burning any fuel, or producing any waste, Clean Wind Energy, Inc. aims to make their Downdraft Tower a direct competitor of fossil fuel-burning power plants, capable of generating the same amount of electricity at a much lower financial and environmental cost.
Each nearly 4,000 foot tall tower is a hollow cylinder which will generate electricity using age-old evaporative cooling technology. Pumps will push water to the top of the tower and misters will spray it over the opening, where it will evaporate and cool the hot dry air at the top of the cylinder. Since cooler air is denser than hot air, it will then begin to fall down into the tower at around 50 MPH. This high-speed wind will spin the power generating turbines located inside the tower.
Clean Energy Wind estimates that each Downdraft Tower will be capable of generating 2,500 MW of power per hour of operation. It will need 1/3 of that energy to power itself, but the remaining 1,500 MW hours will be sold to the power grid via the local utility company. This would be enough energy to power a small to mid-sized city, albeit one with a nearly mile-high tower somewhat nearby.
While at first read one may have concerns about using that much water in the desert (rightly so) to generate electricity, the technology does have a leg up on solar and wind power; it continues to operate regardless of whether the sun is shining or the wind is blowing. Better battery storage technology could somewhat offset the breaks in power generation during those “down times” but the ability to produce clean, renewable energy 24/7 could go a long way to weaning us off fossil fuels for good.
Check out a video of how the technology works:
[via DVICE and Treehugger]