Considering the current energy crisis, everyone is talking about ways to get off of oil and find alternative energy sources to power the world that won’t send us all to hell in a hand basket. There is great interest in the US and the world over in alternative energy sources.

One idea is building new nuclear reactors which are much safer than they have been in the past, yet no one wants one in their ‘backyard’. Then there are the advocates of wind turbines set along the coast to catch wind and convert it into energy. Not a bad idea, except they are huge monstrosities and they slice and dice birds mid-air. I won’t go into ethanol because that pretty much applies to car fuel alternatives exclusively.

Enter Brightsource Energy, Inc/Luz II Ltd. who are designing a new solar technology to generate clean energy, better than anything currently available and being field tested in the Negev in Israel. They advocate building water towers (obviously with water piped to them) in the middle of the deserts where there is an abundance of sun. Surrounding these water towers would be computer controlled heliostats (mirrors) to follow the sun and optimally focus its rays on the water tower, creating steam which would drive turbines and deliver clean energy to homes. In addition, they use an air cooling technology to convert any lost steam back into water and make sure they get results out of every last drop.

Out of the way? No bad views? Won’t melt down? Doesn’t kill birds? Environmentally sound? Sweet!

Write a comment