Written by:

Martin Nix

PO Box 95173

Seattle, WA 98145-2173

solarshack@earthlink.net

WHAT IS SOLAR (HIGH TEMPERATURE) INDUSTRIAL HEAT?

The temperature of the sun is so hot it can melt any metal or material on planet earth. That is a fact. If you were to build a huge parabolic, like a magnifying glass, guess what...you can create those same temperatures on earth. You can literally melt Tungsten with concentrated sunlight.

It is theorized that ancient people in North America use to dig parabolics in the cliff, or even maybe, built curved walls. By placing reflecting plaster or even gold leaf on these walls they could focus the sunlight onto rocks, making hot air. There are ancient quartz crystals in the Smithsonian Institute made by ancient North American natives....these were made in a solar furnace! The ancients use to take sunlight, heat the air, via sunlight, then pipe the hot air to sucking fire hearths. You can today see evidence of this underground "hot air" plenum system in many southwest archeological sites. Sunlight use to be focused onto rocks, and the air was sucked underground to pipes. The fire would suck the air from the pipes. Since the air is already hot, not as much firewood needs to be chopped. Instead of sucking in cold air for the fire, the fire sucks in already hot air. It is a lost technology.

Solar Technology does not have to be a simple low temperature greenhouse, or even a south facing window. Concentrated sunlight can be hot....very very hot. Hot enough to power oil refineries and even coal burning power plants. To date, the best work on retrofitting Coal Burning Power Plants to be solar powered was done for the Four Corners Power Plant in Fruitland New Mexico, on Navaho Land. Financed by the San Francisco based Energy Foundation, Charles Bensinger (previous New Mexico Solar Energy Association president) completed a study on partially powering coal, oil, and gas plants in New Mexico. His conclusion...dual fossil fuel and solar operations is feasible....if the cost of solar collectors can be dropped.

Retrofitting a coal power plant to be solar powered has many advantages. 1) allows for the existing coal mine to last longer, 2) reduces air pollution and Carbon Dioxide emissions, 3) less corrosion on the power plant, 4) air pollution equipment does not work so hard, 5) it reduces the fuel cost of the power plant, 6) provides local employment and manufacturing, 7) helps reduce energy cost in mining the coal, 8) increases the local tax base....need we continue. The fact is dual coal/solar is economically feasible. Sometime ago, I did a brief study of conversion of Centralia Steam Plant in Centralia, WA...one of the worse sunny conditions in the nation. Our conclusion: if wind and "rain" energy can be integrated, Centralia could be converted to dual solar/wind and coal. But....it would require some reconstruction. Heat exchangers would have to be modified.

How? There is a word for it...it is called solar engineering. The trick is to concentrate sunlight and then convert it to a useful form. There are several ways used to convert concentrated sunlight to high temperature heat. One (expensive) way is a big tower with a boiler on top, making steam. Another way is to run hot oil (heat transfer fluids) though a pipe and focus the sun's energy onto a pipe. Another way is to heat salt and melt it, pumping the salt around. The trouble is all of these means of transferring heat is expensive. Steam requires expensive steam pipes. If there is a leak, the heat transfer oils need to be replaced. Melted salts require specialty types of pipe. The trick is to reduce the cost.

Another way for transferring that heat from solar collectors is Hot Air. Air is neat in that it is everywhere. If there is a leak in the pipes, who cares...you can replace inexpensive hot air anytime. Solar energy heats the air. Solar energy compresses the air. Solar energy also moves the air down a pipe at high velocity. Note: this is High Temperature, High Pressure, High Velocity air. It is kind of like a garden hose, except out the end comes hot air, compressed air, and high velocity air....and you don't want to stand in front. Now the coal burning power plant sucks in hot air instead of cold ambient air. Imagine a hot water heater at home. A solar collector could blow hot air into the fossil fuel burner. When the sun is out, the hot air heats the water. When the sun is not, then the burner sucks warm air from the collectors. (You still need to ensure that the fuel/air mixture is "stochastic"). This hybrid arrangement means a lower gas bill. Plus, it is a relatively simple retrofit to practically any gas hot water heater, or furnace.

Most of the energy on this planet comes from combustion of fossil fuels. Worldwide we spend nearly a trillion, maybe more, each year on fossil fuel extraction. Each one of those fossil fuel burners require combustion air (sometimes referred to as make up air). If air was preheated to most of those fire burners, it would literally reduce the planets fossil fuel consumption in half. It is kind of like a wood stove that burns half as much firewood.

It is a little known fact. The amount of sunlight falling on a coal strip mine often is equivalent to the amount of energy the coal mine produces.  There are is nearly over a hundred large scale coal burning power plants in the USA. Countries like Russia, Australia, and China are heavily dependent on coal burning. It would be possible to use recycled materials, such as coal plant fly ash, to manufacture pipes and paving. These are then placed on top of the coal strip mine as part of the land reclamation process. Literally, the solar farm is built behind the strip mine....kind of like a Band-Aid on planet earth healing a scar. These solar collectors manufacture hot air (about 750 F) and inject this hot and compressed air into underground pipes. These pipes (heavily insulated) also store the heat from day use for night use. They also store the heat from the summer for winter use....thus the coal plant has hot and compressed air literally 24 hours a day, 360 days out of the year. We could make the air hotter, but above 750 F degrees, the pipes and joints start to melt. We want to use recycled and other low cost materials. There are two types of combustion chambers in coal plants. Positive Pressure and Negative Pressure. Often the combustion of coal is done at a pressure below atmosphere...in part to protect workers from a fire. But combustion chambers for boilers can also be Positive Pressure, at a higher pressure than sea level. The advantage is that still higher temperatures can be achieved....kind of like squeezing a sponge except for heat. The coal flame approaches nearly 2000 degrees. By compressing the air also, it is kind of like a diesel engine....hot air when squished becomes even hotter. (Note: Coal plants are "external combustion engines" as opposed to "internal combustion engines".)

By integrating wind energy with solar energy, they compliment each other.  Wind energy tends to be very available in the winter, when it is stormy and dark. Solar energy tends to be very available in the summer when it is not windy. Thus both energy sources compliment each other. Wind turbines can squeeze and heat air to make it hot.  It takes energy to make energy. We could literally power aluminum smelters to make metals for solar collectors (and wind turbines)....which in turn make power for the aluminum smelters. We call it the "solar breeder cycle".  Even hydro dams can make "hot and compressed air". Then the hot and compressed air is piped long distance heavily insulated pipes.

The neat thing about Very Hot Air systems is hot air is so useful. Already we use hot air from the exhaust of the combustion. By preheating the air by solar energy, you can do fairly much the same job except without the combustion. The same can be done for oil refineries. Few are aware, but it does take energy to make energy. It takes energy to drill for oil. It takes energy to pipe and tanker the oil. It takes energy to deliver it to the gasoline station. By the time the energy gets to your wheels....literally 98% of the energy is wasted just to get it there. That is a fact, not an opinion.

Oil Refineries need energy to make gasoline.  By making an oil refinery solar powered, it means that solar energy is used to make gasoline (or propane, alcohol, butane, diesel). Now oil (and gas) is used more as a material instead of as a fuel. Commonly referred to as "Active Hot Air Systems", Industrial Process Solar Heat can make very high temperatures. A solar furnace for example can focus enough rays to melt metals. The Russians for example on the Mir Space Station had a solar smelter....they invented over a thousand new types of metals made by concentrated sunlight in a near zero-gravity environment.

As it stands right now, there is NO research in the USA on high temperature solar energy applications. The Department of Energy has not projects (except Barstow in California). No private corporations are reviewing. In short, they are ignoring us solar people. In Sumas, Washington, there is a proposed natural gas power plant being built near the Canadian Border. This gas turbine (cogeneration) system could have air preheated by solar and wind energy...if enough land area can be located for solar and wind collectors. Needless to say, the designers of the Sumas power plants will not "even discuss solar hybrid energy". Northwest Energy, previously WPPSS, refuses to review conversion of Plant One to be solar/natural gas as an alternative to completing Plant One as a nuclear power plant. Bluntly, these people are engineers, and they know what a Carnot cycle is. ....and we are getting engineering double talk. The hang-up is squarely the funding for prefeasibility engineering studies. These studies cost millions, but can lay out the economics and construction feasibility. The funding for Research and most important Development just isn't available for high temperature systems. What we need a "simple to understand", easy to implement solar solutions.

So, get the message OR ELSE!  Sometime ago, via a representative, the Emir of Kuwait was asked by his kids (they are called princes) to develop a solar manufacturing industry in Kuwait...giving the country a non-oil future. The Emir responded "We sell oil, not solar".....a few weeks later Saddam invaded. A few months before the World Trade Center got destroyed, a letter was sent to major investment firms asking why they were ignoring solar energy investments....their response was total stone silence. One engineer, who I will leave unmentioned, visited me from Saudi Arabia. We discussed plans to convert a large refinery in Saudi Arabia to be solar hybrid...his response: "Martin you are going to get me killed". Somehow we seem to be able to come up with millions for Iraq Oil Wars, but not for getting the nation solar powered. Alcohol is in some ways a better fuel for commercial aircraft...bulky and heavier...but still could be more economic than jet petroleum.....if the alcohol fuels were made from solar energy. With oil company representatives sitting on most major USA corporate boards, the potential for collusion and manipulation of energy markets are very real. Except for a few major companies (British Petroleum, Scott Glass, Ballard, etc), most businesses are not taking serious energy issues. Most small businesses make no if any effort to integrate solar energy as part of their business practices.

The future is bright for Solar Industrial Process Heat.....but only if the leaders pay attention.  There is a solar success story. Recently the nation of Israel announced they would develop the Dead Sea HelioHydroElectric Project. The Dead Sea is literally drying up, creating all kinds of problems. The idea is to flood the Dead Sea with "Fresh" Salt Water from the Red Sea. As the water flows downhill it generates electrical power. But more important, the additional water in the Dead Sea increases the amount of local area moisture...thus clouds and rainfall. Believe it or not, this is the ONLY area where the Palestinians and Israelis agree. Ironically, similar projects exist in the USA. Underneath the American Southwest is a huge Salt Water Aquifer. By using solar and wind pumps, this water can be brought to the surface to flood dry lakes. The increased evaporation adds clouds and rainfall to mountains. If an aggressive campaign was done to build solar evaporation ponds in Western Washington, it would help drought protect Seattle City Light hydro dams. Plus, there is a bonus...this salt is mineral laden with manganese, silver, gold, etc. It can be extracted via electrolysis. Some plants can grow in these salts, and can be harvested to make food, or (Nobel Prize in waiting) bio-diesel fuels. It is possible someday the African Desert could bloom. I contend the conflicts in the Middle East are more over "lack of water" for economic development....than religion. The fact is solar energy development could be instrumental in bringing peace to the Middle East.

We call it the 11th Bill of Right. The right to make your own energy. Physical deprivation can be used as a weapon. Lack of food can be a weapon. Heck....Japan invaded Pearl Harbor because they had their oil supply turned off. Right now our energy sources are highly dependent on "centralized sources". By allowing people to make their own energy (food, hot water, space heat, cooking, fuel for transportation, lighting, electricity for telecommunications), in my opinion, it will do a lot to stop these conflicts.  One definition of being "rich" is you have lots of energy to waste. One definition of being poor is you have No energy.  Solar Energy can be used not only for our homes, but also for energy intensive businesses. But it will only happen if the people who own and operate these industries pay attention. Excuse me guys, but bin Laden arrived and he is pro-solar-powered-caves-in-Afghanistan....owe ouch. The truth is we can retrofit many of our refineries, smelters, and power plants to be assisted by solar energy.......if we just tried.