Someone really is dreaming ("Electric dreams", 6 March, p 30). If we wait until we can build a 1-kilometre high chimney we will never get it off the ground. For one thing, when was the last time you saw a cement kiln or glass smelter in the desertusing what source of fuel, limestone, sodium carbonate and reinforcing steel?
How about building a chimney with existing technology, say 500 metres highthen firing a small amount of natural gas up the chimney to increase the draft by an enormous amount? Or use off-peak electricity (from the chimney) to make hydrogen and fire that at peak times to double the output of electricity? Both options would attract investors.
Another idea might be to find a suitable mountain in the desert and run the chimney as a duct up the side. This would save some of the huge costs and as yet untested ...
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.