Today, at St Edmund's College at University of Cambridge, Dr Gerry Wolff had a lecture on a very interesting topic: "Clean Power from Deserts."
What was it about? Read the description:
What a splendid idea!
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
Desert Solar Energy Use!
"Every year, each square kilometre of hot desert receives solar energy equivalent to 1.5 million barrels of oil. Multiplying by the area of deserts worldwide, this is several hundred times the entire current energy consumption of the world. It is possible to tap in to this cornucopia with the simple, proven technology of concentrating solar power (CSP): using mirrors to concentrate sunlight to create heat and then using the heat to raise steam to drive turbines and generators in the conventional way. Using CSP, less than 1% of the world's deserts could generate as much electricity as the world is currently using. It is feasible and economic to transmit solar electricity for 3000 km or more using highly-efficient 'HVDC'
transmission lines. It has been calculated that 90% of the world's population lives within 2700 km of a hot desert."
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4 comments:
Thanks very much for the posting but, as it happens, I was not able to give the lecture because I had bronchitis. I understand that three people with a knowledge of the subject gave an improvised lecture on my behalf. The organisers have suggested that I should come and give the lecture at a later date.
Further information may be found at http://www.trec-uk.org.uk/index.htm and http://www.desertec.org/ .
Thanks. I got the invitation and could not attend, so I did not know. Thanks for the link as well.
the idea is excellent! is there any political will to put it at work?
i know this sounds gloomy, but i was very discouraged to learn that there is more than one technology enabling the world to run our engines on water, and nobody cares enough.
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