Solar power sats without colonies...

That's what I was calling a convection tower. I don't like to say
just "solar tower", because the version with the steam turbine has a
tower too.

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, Matt Gallimore
wrote:
>
> If you interested in another approach to generating electricity
from solar, consider the solar tower. Not well known, but rather
elegant in its own way:
>
> http://www.solarmissiontechnologies.com/project-technology.htm
>
> As one method is not universal over planet earth, this one is
practical and economical for some parts.
>
> wlm_efn wrote:"Dan Wylie-Sears" wrote:
> > Storing the heat is not expensive. In the steam-turbine approach
> > it's a tank of molten salt; in the convection-tower approach it
> > literally costs nothing because it's the ground underneath.
>
> Storing it for *long* periods of time, like during long rainy
seasons,
> might be. I've seen designs where the solar power electricity is
used
> to make methane, which *can* be stored for long periods of time,
and
> can be transported to anywhere for power generation when/where it
is
> needed.
>
> I'm with you on the opinion that earth-based solar power is a
better
> idea than SPS, though.
>
Service.