SuperSCAF: Carbon-Negative Power Plants. By Karl Schroeder, Worldchanging.com, June 20, 2008. "I thought I'd try my hand at envisioning what a 200-megawatt carbon-negative power plant might look like... The starting point for this design is SCAF, the Solar City Air Filtre. SCAF units would be house- to stadium-sized, and based on the technology of solar updraft towers. Basically you have a tall open tower standing atop a glass greenhouse-like structure. In the case of an urban SCAF, air flows in through air filters in the sides of the greenhouse, is warmed by the greenhouse effect, spins a vertical wind turbine to create power that you can sell, and exits (clean and green) out the stack. The SCAF site suggests planting these units in the middle of traffic circles, as a way of mitigating urban pollution... Interesting as they are, solar towers aren't as compelling as some other renewable designs. Even ordinary windmills can probably out-compete them in most jurisdictions. But, with the addition of one low-tech feature, they could be carbon-negative. I call this design SuperSCAF."
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