Sensible , moreso than the "solar tower" at 3500ft tall.
Combine the idea with several " inclined" updraft tubes along the face of the mountainside for wind turbines and you have a winner.
Richard
----- Original Message ----- From: "Horace Heffner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <vortex-l@eskimo.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2005 6:51 AM
Subject: Re: Mountainside solar towers
In the right locations it should be possible to build solar towers at a very low cost per kW. The right location consists of a south facing mountainside in a sunny location. The mountain almost entirely eliminates the structural support problem, and the south facing mountainside should offer better solar collection than a flat surface. The cross sectional area could affordably be very large. Given that rise would exist in the mountainside solar collector, the base would thus serve a dual purpose as heat collector and rise column, and funnel up to a purely rise column. A steep mountainside should make for less expensive real estate as well.
The above applies to the northern temperate zone. In the southern
temperate zone a north facing mountainside would be the right location. In
an equatorial zone multiple faces might be used for solar collectors,
possibly with rise columns located on multiple sides of a mountain.
Regards,
Horace Heffner
