How we can build the super-chimney

The issue is simple: whether we can build a chimney 5000m(3-mile) high. There are viable projects and proposals to build buildings as tall as 1.6 km(1 mile)⁶. However, buildings unlike chimney entail much heavier construction because there are floors, ceilings, and all other elements within building; which are necessary to make such building useful. Chimney is just a cylinder. Thus, chimney is much lighter structure and can be build a lot taller than any building. Therefore, it is possible to build a 5-kilometer tall chimney. Arrival of new super-strong materials makes it even more probable.

The super-chimney must be high enough to produce the desired airflow speed. The height of more than 1 km will guarantee substantially high airflows to allow to operate wind turbines. Obviously, the higher the super-chimney is the stronger the airflow will be. In fact, the only limitation to the height is structural stability.

Figure 2:
1- pipe
2- base
3-channels
4- air pipes

One design includes multiple air pipes connected on the sides to the super-chimney. Keeping winds low in the area can be achieved by spreading those pipes with openings sufficiently far removed from the super-chimney (fig. 2). The turbines can be mounted inside those pipes, which will allow for easy access for maintenance. In addition, because a plurality of such pipes will have large area of combined opening, the airflow within each individual pipe will be lower than inside the super-chimney, thus, making maintenance more convenient. By opening/closing those pipes we can regulate the combined air flow through the super-chimney.

Another design can be especially useful to reduce the size of the structure. In this case, a series of turbines can be placed inside the super-chimney one above the other. The maintenance in this design would be more difficult; however, the whole structure will occupy a smaller lot of land.

Figure 3:
1- mountain
2- pipe
3-channels

Figure 4:
1- mountain
2-pipe
3-supportive structures
4- base

If building the super-chimney is impossible due to structural instability, the design might include using a natural mountain as support structure. In this case, a super-chimney can either be placed on or alongside a mountain slope or drilled inside a mountain.(fig. 3 and 4.) Alternatively, multiple super-chimneys can be bundled to provide support to each other. Suspension cables can be used to increase the structural stability.

Using the natural landscape gives us an opportunity to test the whole project in an inexpensive way: the super-chimney can be mounted along the wall of Great Canyon . The difference of temperatures from bottom to top can reach 20°C, thus providing needed driving force to fuel the system.