FAQ
1.Is it possible to build such a tall structure?
I do believe so, however, only professional construction engineer can answer that question. I used 5 km as a good demonstrative example. However, it does not mean that the chimney can not be shorter or longer than 5 km. It just means that more chimneys will be needed to achieve that same result. I am absolutely confident that we can build 2 km tall chimney, and that will produce the same effects but on a much smaller scale.
2.Are you planning to build a demo unit? Is there a prototype built.
There is no prototype. I am seeking financing for building such prototype which will act as a pilot project to study feasibility of bigger chimneys.
3.I don't understand what is the difference between the air inside the tower
and the air outside the tower. They have the same temperature so why will the air inside the chimney be rising?
At the bottom of the chimney air has the same temperature inside and outside. The inside and outside air will be rising up. However, the air outside will be cooling adiabatically, so its temperature will be dropping. The air inside will be not affected by adiabatic cooling and will maintain its energy, so it will be warmer and less dense than outside air. And the higher we go, the bigger that difference will be. That difference will be the driving force of the chimney.
4.If the chimney works and reduces the temperature, won't it just keep on reducing the temperature after we return to 'pre-global warming' levels. Won't it keep going until the surface temperature around the chimney is equal to the temp at the top of it?
No, that will not be the case, because Sun constantly supplies more energy to the atmosphere. Once we reach a desirable level of temperature we can shut the chimney down or keep it running only a few days a year, just to maintain desirable global temperature.
5.Are there any estimates for the building cost of the chimney?
There are no estimates at this point. I am looking for a knowledgeable volunteer to calculate the cost and benefits of building chimneys of different heights to find out the most feasible solution.
6.Did you submit your idea to some venture capital firms?
I did submit my invention to a number of organizations and foundations.
Unfortunately, it did not get any further than receptionists desk. For
example, Bill Gates foundation sent mea rubberstamped letter where they
refused to fund me because they only help projects targeted for the whole
humanity. I guess that Global Warming is my personal problem!
7. What about adiabatic cooling? Did you take it into consideration?
Air inside the chimney is not affected by adiabatic cooling. Unlike freely rising parcel of air, the air in the chimney is restricted in its horizontal expansion and thus, it is not free rising. When air rises in the chimney, it also expands but only into upper direction. It compresses the layer of the air above it, heats it up and loses its own heat. At the same time the air below does the same thing. And that how it goes all the way until the chimney exit: layers of air are being pushed and push themselve. That results in maintaining the same amount of heat in every layer of air, and that is why the chimney works.
8.How is it different from Solar Chimney, which was built in 1978?
Solar chimney was designed to produce electricity, and that is the only benefit it delivers. Solar chimney uses giant green houses to concentrate heat, so the chimney can be shortened. Those green houses will trap more heat in our atmosphere and therefore will contribute to Global Warming. Unlike the Solar Chimney, the Super Chimney is designed to cool atmosphere. It does not need green house and is capable of reducing Global Temperature by increasing thermal exchange in the atmosphere.
9.Does the chimney have to be vertical ? Can it be built on a slope of a mountain?
The chimney does not have to be vertical and it can be put on its side supported by the slope of a mountain. However, such design will lose a lot of air energy due to friction of air along the walls of the chimney.
10.If the chimney produced water, would not it dry out the surrounding areas?
No, the chimney will not create deserts in other places. It will dry up the air which gets into chimney, but then that air will be mixing with the naturally flowing air currents which carry a lot more air, therefore, a drying effect will be minimized. It can be analogized with sea currents: Gulf Stream carries water from Caribbean to Europe, but it does not make see level in Caribbean lower than in Europe.
11.Have you taken into account the wind speed at high levels? On a structure that size it would be a mighty force.
This is a good question for structural engineers. I do not know enough about building structures to answer this question with confidence. However, I thought that it might be overcome by building chimney which will be structured like a bundle of pipes. That way a stability of the structure will be enhanced by each individual pipe. While that increases loses due to the air friction, it might be better than just one pipe, because it will reduce turbulence within the airflow.
12.How are you planning on "kick starting" the flow?
Indeed , the chimney might need initial kick start to create ongoing airflow. It can be achieved by burning some fuel inside the chimney or right next to it.
13.If the air is traveling into the chimney at such high speed, would not it produce hurricane winds right next to the chimney?
There is a problem of high winds of air coming inside the chimney. There are two solutions to this: either to make the chimney shorter and less powerful, or make a wider lower end rim. For example, if the chimney is 1 km in diameter, we can make a lower base/ rim 3 km in diameter, which will reduce the speed of the wind on the entrance 10 times.
 |