GreenTowerGT - Environmental Impact and Human Health

GREENTOWER

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

AND HUMAN HEALTH

1. Alleged Negative Effects on the Environment

Competitors like to claim that building the big GreenTower® (GT) structure will have a strong negative impact on the environment. A closer look at the technology shows that this impact is not only negligible but extremely positive:

● The design life-span of 160 years distributes the construction impact over the longest life cycle of any power generating technology. Hence the GT will outlive 4 nuclear; 5,4 coal-fired; 5,4 photovoltaic and 8 combined cycle power stations.

● Contrary to other technologies the GT will never become obsolete with the arrival of new power technologies, because its running cost of power production is negligible. If the power train will not work any more (after perhaps 200 years) it can be replaced. Without it the GT will still be a perfect air-cooled greenhouse. Since long-term hard (pozzolanic) concrete is used it never needs to be dismantled.

● The power used for mining, transport and cement/ steel/glass manufacturing can be supplied emission-free from another GT. Not only heat energy but also reduction gas can be supplied from the GT and related irrigation projects in the form of gasified renewable plant matter with only 15% energy loss. Silica sand, soda ash and building materials are widely and abundantly available. The GT is in fact ”self-propagating” and its construction does not cause any lasting negative impact on the environment. Moreover, the collector’s steel and glass can easily be recycled.

● Moreover, the GT sequestrates so much CO2 that it is incomparably more environment friendly than any other (even renewable) power technology, as reflected in the table below. Instead of emitting, it sequestrates ± 4 ton CO2 per MWh(el) produced:

TECHNOLOGY	Life-span	CO2 emis-sions
Lignite power stations **	40 years	1 140 kg/MWh
Steam coal power stations **	40 “	900 “
Oil-fuelled power stations	30 “	680 “
Gas-fuelled combined cycles **	20 “	400 “
Photovoltaics *	20 – 30 “	110 “
Wind generators *	20 – 30 “	17 “
Hydro power stations *	60 “	14 “
Concentrating solar-thermal power stations *	20 – 30 “	12 “
GreenTower without CO2-sequestration, coal-generated heat and power ***	160 “	12 “
GreenTower without CO2-sequestration, GT-generated heat and power	160 “	0 “
GreenTower with CO2-sequestration “	160 “	- 4000 “
* Figures from the German Ministry of the Environment (BMU) ** Figures from Genis, Oeko-Institut (Handelsblatt)
*** The GreenTower is a non-concentrating solar technology which also utilizes diffuse solar radiation

Whilst the large-scale land sterilization by hydro and other solar power stations is often seen as a threat to the environment, the GT will, due to four yields in the greenhouse compared to one yield in high-intensity open air agriculture, in fact increase production to 270% and add a virtual 170% to highly productive farm land. In desert areas the effect will be much stronger.

Though cloud formation by a single GT was too small to be included in the 1997 pre-feasibility study for the Sishen site in < xml="true" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" prefix="st1" namespace="">South Africa, large-area densely packed GT related irrigation schemes can, like rain forests, cause rain. Please note that evaporated water in the greenhouse is now re-condensed.

“Sight pollution”, as often claimed with wind parks, is also non-existing, since the nearest approach to the chimney for a non-worker is about 4 km (collector Æ = 6,9km). Since even in a high concentration area the chimney stacks will be at least 16 km apart from each other, the impression of a congestion of towers like in wind parks can never occur.

The safety of air traffic is ensured through compulsory lighting and further enhanced in that the high chimney stack is the ideal platform for air space radar control. The safety of the workers in the greenhouse against broken glass is ensured through the shadow nets.

2. Thermal Up-draft in the Atmosphere

The specific difficulty with solar power generation lies in the low energy density of solar radiation. The areas of highest radiation (2 400 kWh p.a.) have an average hourly energy input of only half a kWh/m²h during day time or a power input of half a kW/m². Hence huge areas (solar fields) are required to reach comparable outputs to fossil fuel power stations.

The average daily sunshine of only 12 hours yields a low plant load factor (part of full plant utilization) of about 30% without energy store. To reach a plant load factor of about 90% through energy-storage (like the GreenTower) the area of the solar field trebles. Incidentally, fossil power stations make better use of the available heat energy due to higher efficiency.

Large areas are abundantly available in arid areas like the Sahara, Arabian peninsula, Kalahari, Namibia etc. Obviously the planet’s energy demand can be satisfied by solar power from desert areas in the foreseeable future, but such large-scale applications may have unexpected environmental side-effects, not obvious at first glance.

Before looking into the GT-congestion effects some general facts should be noted: The total amount of solar radiation delivered to the earth (the solar limit) is 1,7 x 10^14 kW, of which 15% passes through the atmosphere to reach land not directly used by humans. This is the practical solar limit for power generation. The present world energy consumption stands at 0,021% of the solar limit or 0,141% of the practical solar limit. The world production of biomass stands at 0,023% of the solar limit with an average conversion factor of about 1,2%.

About 1% of the solar limit‘s radiation causes a thermal up-draft in the atmosphere by heating the soil, which in turn partly heats the air by convection. This is the prime cause of atmospheric movement. Less than 1% of this up-draft is available as horizontal wind at ground level. This up-draft is too weak to be directly utilized, unless it is concentrated by a GT (Updraft Tower/Solar Chimney) (concentration factor » 1 650). With large, densely packed GT areas the natural solar up-draft is concentrated at certain points and then released at 1 500 m above ground level. Higher up the concentration disappears due to hot air mixing with the ambient cold air. Hence high GT concentrations have a negligible effect on the atmosphere.

However, congestions of concentrating (mirrors) and photovoltaic solar devices suppress a great deal of the solar up-draft by re-radiation with a significant impact on the atmosphere by catching the greatest deal of the solar radiation above ground level before it can cause convection.

Since the atmospheric up-draft causes the global wind patterns, sea currents and rainfall, its large-scale suppression will have a major impact on the atmosphere, climate and environment. Only the GT (and Updraft Tower/Solar Chimney) technology will leave the climate greatly undisturbed. It extracts the energy from solar radiation in the most natural way.

3. Heating the Atmosphere

Adversaries also claim that large-scale use and high concentration of GTs would enhance global atmospheric warming by suppressing the high reflection (albedo) of solar radiation in desert areas (albedo » 70%). However, the opposite is true:

● Notably, rainforests absorb practically 100% of the solar radiation. According to the albedo argument all forests and vegetation should be removed to reduce global warming. In reality the vast amounts of CO2 set free would increase global warming to an alarming extent. No higher average temperatures have been noted there compared to corresponding deserts.

● A GreenTower solar power station will absorb the visible radiation but at the same time re-radiate in the infrared (IR) spectrum (10 mm), for which radiation the atmosphere is also translucent. Since IR losses are proportional to the fourth power of the absolute temperature a part of the incoming solar energy is re-radiated from the collector to space. Its power replaces power from thermal power stations losing 60% energy to the air by cooling.

● If densely packed on large areas, the associated irrigated GT agricultural schemes will increase water transport to the higher atmospheric strata and thus increase cloud formation, whilst the GTs will contribute to cloud formation by lifting these layers. They thus accelerate the circulation of water and increase rainfall, the shadowing of which will cool the ground.

● The increased humidity in the (hot) atmosphere increases the IR loss radiation to outer space (µ T^4). Visible solar radiation is also directly reflected into outer space with cloud formation. Both effects lower the temperature of the atmosphere to such an extent that the atmosphere stays cooler compared to the sunny desert, as shown by general experience.

● With GTs an additional cooling effect lies in the large amounts of biomass produced by solar energy and greatly buried in the soil as humus. The corresponding large-scale extraction of CO2 from the atmosphere will have a strong medium term cooling effect when large numbers of GTs with related irrigation schemes are built.

● Large-scale energy transport from desert areas to temperate industrialized zones (from the Sahara to Europe, from South to North China, from Mexico to North America) through high voltage DC power lines, will cause waste heat there. But IR loss radiation due to high humidity in the temperate zones will quickly remove this excess energy with a net effect of global cooling.

● The greatest part of power exported to the temperate zones will be used for driving machinery in closed rooms, the waste heat of which will contribute to space heating. More and more fossil fuel for space heating is thus replaced by solar energy from deserts, with another net effect of global atmospheric cooling.

Summing up all the effects, we note that GT farms in dry (desert) areas lower the ambient and global atmospheric temperatures instead of increasing them. In tropical and humid areas the ambient temperature will more or less remain constant. Hence the albedo argument regarding the GT is not valid and stems from incomplete reasoning

4. Direct Positive Effects on the Environment

● Pure solar, emission-free, day and night full power production results from the cheap quick-control GT energystore. As it is the most reliable power technology and more versatile than most fossil fuel power technologies through its day and night, quick-response peak power production its (peak) power will immediately be in high demand.

● Due to the double usage as greenhouse and power plant the GT represents the only technology to combine high revenues for investors with the lowest price of power. Enhancement of power production by vegetation in the GT collector has been scientifically proved, supporting the reported high greenhouse revenues as “worst case”. Hence the necessary fast introduction ofmost environment-friendly technology is not hampered by a comparatively high price of power, contrary to other renewable energies.

● The high humus content in the soil of the greenhouse (12% plus) ensures at the same time optimal conditions for nitrogen-fixating bacteria in the soil, as the roots require. The high microbe concentration and adsorption of plant nutrients in humus will supply additional fertilization to this organic agriculture without artificial fertilization, herbicides and pesticides. Very high yields will be achieved and an example for the farming community will be set.

● Drip irrigation by collapsible piping in the greenhouse/ irrigation schemes will ensure lowest working cost, prevent the soil from becoming brackish and ensure minimum use of water. By re-condensing more than 90% water in the greenhouse by means of adjustable shadow nets/foils even more water and energy will be saved. Hence the GT agriculture will become the most cost/water-efficient high-yield agriculture with the benefit of being purely organic.

● A GT with related irrigation projects will sequestrate up to five times the CO2 emissions of an equally rated coal-fired power plant. The CO2 is finally “buried” in the soil a humus. Humus agriculture, triggered by use and production in the GT, can not only slow down the present CO2 increase in the atmosphere but, in fact, reverse it.

● The GT is not confined to waste land in desert areas for big power stations like other solar technologies, since it enhances agricultural production of highly productive (irrigated) areas by at least 170%. Because it shows the lowest relative power production losses of all solar technologies with an overcast sky, it is likewise usable in the tropic belt and will never impose the alternative: human nutrition or power production. Both support and enhance each other. It is therefore exceptionally well suited for South China and India with their intensively used areas. Humus soil is well suited for rice production.

5. Desert Cultivation

● (Re-)cultivation of the large desert areas requires sustainable cheap and non-polluting energy for desalination and pumping of water from greater depths and over long distances. (Brackish) water is normally available underground in sufficient quantities. The GT with two proprietary desalination processes will supply the required cheap water.

● The use of humus, which is not generated by nature in arid areas, is also a prerequisite for successful desert cultivation to ensure the necessary water retention in the soil and also the highest possible fertility. The GT with its massive production of plant matter will necessarily supply large amounts of humus for adjacent desert cultivation projects.

● Drip irrigation is also a prerequisite for successful desert cultivation, since this is the only way to prevent the soil from becoming brackish and to maintain a sustainable agriculture. Every GT will supply the necessary infrastructure for the right type of drip irrigation and enlargement of the water supply by offering cheap power and humus to the neighbourhood.

● Hence every GT in a (semi-)desert will become the nucleus of an ever growing oasis. If these highly evaporating oases eventually form a coherent plant belt with a width of about 20 km and perpendicular to the (relatively constant) main wind direction, constant rainfall will occur at the lee side of this belt so that this area can be used for agriculture without irrigation. The necessary humus will automatically be supplied by the highly productive plant belt.

● A mat of dense vegetation developing in this leeside area will re-evaporate water and generate rain in the area further to lee. With the aid of surplus humus from the already planted areas additional vegetation can be created and so forth. Large (semi-)desert areas can thus be cultivated at comparatively modest cost. Note that the rain falling in the Ukraine has in general been evaporated four times further west. Since the “Waldsterben” in Central Europe with consequent lower evaporation started, regular droughts occur.

● It can be concluded that the GT is the natural driving force for desert (re-)cultivation, which will not only supply food and work for hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions, but will also solve the CO2 problem altogether. The beauty of the GT technology is that desert cultivation is not a dream, too expensive to realize, but an attractive means to earn revenues from the outset.

6. Humus

Below: Humus molecule according to Prof. Pauli, who discovered its molecular structure in 1963/4

● Unfortunately the scientific facts about humus are not widely known to the public. Its chemical structure is, however, well-known. Humus is a highly but not densely polymerized material with large interstitial pores, made up from "aromatic" humus monomers and acids. It shows a distinctive, mechanically strong crumb structure with an extreme network of fine capillaries for water transport/retention and coarse capillaries for air transport. The internal surface of good forest humus is about 57 000m²/g, special clay humus 1 millionm²/g. This structure ensures a very high retention of water also under dry conditions.

● The large-scale adsorption of nutrients prevents them from leaching out and ensures fast root growth and high fertility. This is due to the fine capillaries where the roots find a high concentration of nutrients and water but no mechanical resistance. Even rice can be grown in humus soil. Root growth in humus is faster than in expensive hydro cultures.

● In short, the advantages/qualities of good (GT) compost/humus are:

* Improved soil structure and fertility, root growth up to one metre in three days

* High (1 000 times) concentration of soil organisms extracts nutrients from the soil itself; and,

* this + nitrogen-assimilating soil organisms ensure high fertility; no fertilizer required

* Water retaining capacity very high (swelling)

* No leaching-out of nutrients/salts, remaining plant-available

* Strong buffer working keeps pH between 7 and 7,3

* Completely hygienized and free of seeds, poisons, pathogenic germs and viruses

* Heavy metals finally sequestrated and not plant accessible except as trace elements

* Vegetation protected by antibiotic action of humus organisms, no pesticides required

● Much soil has become unfit for agricultural use due to salt layer formation caused by acid rain or top irrigation, evaporating water directly and leaving salt behind. This soil can be rehabilitated by mixing it with humus and soaking it so that ions will be transferred to the humus capillaries and be adsorbed there. This will break the salt layers, which are impenetrable for plant roots. The humus will store the salts for plant use.

● Humus generation, bio-gas production and gasification of organic matter are not in competition with food production for humans, since only waste matter is composted.

● Humus does not develop naturally in the soil of arid areas due to absence of a resting period (wet and cold winter), during which humus monomers can polymerize. They are instead broken down by soil organisms. To obtain good humus in arid countries requires intensive high-temperature composting in aerated containers. Corresponding patents have been prepared for the GT and will be lodged during the feasibility study.

7. Non-polluting Transport

● All non-polluting transport technologies like battery cars, compressed air vehicles and fuel cells are overall highly polluting if they draw their primary energy from a polluting source due to high energy losses in many-step energy conversion. A 33% efficiency diesel car causes half the pollution of a fuel cell-powered car drawing hydrogen from an oil-powered plant with a cycle efficiency of only 16%. A cheap, non-polluting primary energy source is thus essential.

● The GT is at present the only technology that can supply cheap, sustainable and emission-free primary energy for heavily polluted mega-cities and stop the smog caused by cars and trucks. Transport will not only become cleaner but also considerably cheaper.

8. Saving Natural Resources through Recycling and Cheap Power

● Many environmentalists believe in making power expensive to reduce CO2-emissions in order to save the environment. This view can be very counterproductive, as can be seen in the example of steel manufacturing in Germany where 90% of the raw material is scrap iron which has to be processed in induction (electrical) furnaces. At present the power price in Germany is so high that the steel manufacturers are seriously consideringleaving the country. This presently biggest recycling project will thus be killed through expensive power.

● It can be said in general that metal recycling (reduction) is crucially depending on cheap power. A sustainable world economy has to use its ores sparingly, i.e. it has to recycle as much as possible. Exactly this is prevented by expensive power

● Most recycling processes require power but will only become viable through cheap power which in turn will again save natural resources.

● Tremendous amounts of crude oil can be saved through large-scale use of hydrogen. Though today hydrogen made from natural gas is cheaper than by hydrolysis due to too high a power price, the cheap GT power can change this and save oil and gas.

● Hence, by supplying the cheapest and emission-free power the GT makes recycling very attractive and environment-friendly. It thus makes a very big contribution to a sustainable world economy and the saving of our natural resources.

● The German model of introducing PV (photovoltaic) and wind power into the market by feeding it into the grid whenever it is produced at government-determined irrationally high prices/fees, is counter-productive as it increases the cost of power beyond proportion. As power delivery by these sources is erratic and unreliable, no fossil fuel power station, needed as backup, can be closed down. Due to the erratic backup demand, backup power production becomes extremely expensive so that the cost to the grid (fees) might treble as in the case of German wind power. The basic deficiency of the wind/PV technologies is their lack of energy storage. The widely heralded 140 000 jobs created in the German wind/PV industry are misleading, since these are non-sustainable jobs, which will fall away completely once the highly subsidized fees mentioned above cease. Apparently these 140 000 subsidized jobs led to the loss of 1,4 million non-subsidized industrial jobs due to the highest power price in Europe. The GT with its energy storage does not need to be subsidized in this irrational manner but can at present already offerthe cheapest power at a real price of 2,0€c/kWh in Europe, though being imported from the Sahara at DC transmission cost of ± 0,5€c/kWh. The GT demonstrates that industrial efficiency and environment protection/sustainable development are not necessarily in opposition but can be reconciled in a win-win-situation.

9. Human Health

● Whilst environmental protection is mostly seen as absence of pollution and as stainable development, the impact on human health is just as important. Creation of sustainable, healthy and well-paid jobs, i.e. well-understood industrial efficiency also contributes to human health. But this is not the only unique GT contribution to this important issue:

● The unique humus agriculture in the GT greenhouse and the related irrigation schemes produce fruit, vegetables and staple food of the highest quality due to the extremely high microbial production of plant nutrients in and from the soil. GT organic agriculture does not require artificial fertilization, also not nitric acid, which is produced from the air by bacteria living freely in the humus soil. Nitrogen over-fertilization, often seen with greenhouse products, is thus not possible since these microbes only produce the amount of nitrogen required by the symbiotic plant roots. Hence these plants contain their full nutritional value contrary to most crops produced by conventional farming.

● As the humus bacteria abundantly present in GT humus soil comprise many antibiotic bacteria and antibiotics, which the plants can activate in the case of pests, pesticides are super-fluent in the organic GT agriculture so that GT food is free of pesticides. Please note that many pests only attack weak or ill plants but not the strong GT vegetation. Many plagues, like fungi, are simply outgrown by the strong growing GT vegetation. Hence the GT produces a much more healthy, organically grown, better tasting food than food obtained anywhere else.

● China is presently importing soy beans on big scale from the USA to supply a balanced diet to its citizens due to the local shortage in protein production. Though soy beans are well known to the Chinese they were not used for human nutrition in earlier centuries.Even today the use of soy beans as sole (and cheap) source of proteins is not advisable, since certain important amino acids are lacking. The generally accepted best possible protein source would be spirulina algae which, however, are difficult to grow and at present extremely expensive. GT research revealed that the GT collector has next to the greenhouse the best growing conditions possible for spirulina and that it could be grown at a fraction of the cost hitherto quoted. As one GT can supply enough protein for 1,37 million people at affordable cost, China would require 1 000 GTs to feed its population of 1,35bn, coinciding with the amount of GTs required to supply a decent electrification of 1kW/person at a nominal rating of 1 000MW/GT, as envisaged with the 30th GT built. Hence the number of GTs to fully supply emission-free cheap power would also fill the gap in protein supply. Other countries like India could similarly replace low value protein with the highest value protein at affordable cost.

● In 2000 the central Chinese government shifted the responsibility for new power stations to the provinces. Whilst the rich coastal provinces built expensive high-efficiency low-pollution coal-fired power stations, the poor inland provinces fell back on old Soviet designs with a very low efficiency and highest possible pollution, so that China has at present CO2 emissions 5 times as high as previously assumed and an unbearable smog problem, particularly in the huge inland cities. Though Beijing is not the most heavily polluted city, many western athletes refused to take part in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing for fear of damage to their lungs. Fighting smog, which apparently has become the main risk for human health there, is obviously now a national necessity. As all other emission-free technologies are either too expensive or have too long lead times (nuclear), the problem can only be solved by making emission-free GTs the bulk of new power stations. An additional advantage is that the GT also acts as a general vacuum cleaner for the atmosphere, because all aerosols, acid gases and particulates (soot) are sequestrated in the greenhouse during re-condensation. Smog fighting by GTs has also become extremely urgent in India and in most mega-cities.

● Since a great deal of smog is also caused by traffic and the real growth of Chinese traffic is still ahead, emission-free transport is imperative. As it is the only really cheap emission- free primary energy source, only GTs can solve the problem by producing clean hydrogen-fuel at half the cost of conventional highly polluting fuel, also in other countries.

● Another source of air pollution is waste disposal by incineration. Composting biological (sewer sludge) and other waste (plastics!) according to the GT high-temperature rotting process -- to be patented soon -- would also end this big source of pollution and at the same time produce a very valuable structural material for soil improvement with unending natural fertilization.

● One of the greatest threats to human health is the present and growing lack of clean drinking-water. Due to its function-related very cheap desalination and water purification processes the GT can directly solve this problem. The use of GT humus to be sold to the neighbourhood will improve the storage of nutrients in the soil so much that its leaching out into the groundwater will be stopped and drinking-water will again be available from rivers and lakes as in times gone by.

● Recently bio-fuels have come under suspicion as being more an environmental threat than advantage. They are in most cases competing with human nutrition and are significantly more expensive than clean GT hydrogen. Hence the GT can avoid the problems of bio-fuels by supplying a better and cheaper option. Hence no other power technology has the positive impact on human health as that of the GT.

10. Conclusion

● No real negative impact factors on the environment could be found.

● The cheap power price makes the GreenTower the most sought after power technology and enhances its quick market entrance so that its environmental and human health benefits will reach mankind in the shortest possible time, since it is at the same time also the most economical technology. The cheap power will also stimulate recycling and save valuable minerals, making any economy much more efficient and sustainable.

● With the advance of new cheap power technologies GTs will not become obsolete, since due to their extremely low electrical running cost (0,13% on electrical part) their power will stay the cheapest once they have been fully paid. Judging from history the pozzolanic concrete structure of the chimney flue will easily last 2 000 years, as did the corresponding Roman buildings and also antique window glass. Should the turbines be removed the GTs will remain the most efficient air-cooled greenhouses in history.

● The GreenTower is not only the most environment-friendly power technology, but a necessary prerequisite to stop the quickly advancing desertification of the globe as seen in the Sahara, Southern Russia and China, whereby the greened deserts will also become a huge sink for CO2. By large-scale application the GT will reverse the global greenhouse effect. The cheap price of power of the GreenTower will ensure quick market penetration and largely accelerate this process.

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