Snow in Tucson

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While it's 70degrees during the daytime in Tucson, it's nice to see snow on the mountains.

Two solar updraft towers in AZ

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Australia-based EnviroMission Ltd recently announced plans to build two solar updraft towers that span hundreds of acres in La Paz County, Arizona. Solar updraft technology sounds promising enough: generate hot air with a giant greenhouse, channel the air into a chimney-like device, and let the warm wind turn a wind turbine to produce energy. The idea isn’t new — it’s been around since the mid 1980’s — but it’s only now starting to take off.

EnviroMission Ltd’s new initiative is not a small project by any means. The towers will each have 2,400 foot chimneys over a greenhouse measuring four square miles. For some perspective, that’s nearly as tall as the recently-completed Burj Dubai structure.

There’s still plenty of work to be done before the $750 million, 200 megawatt project can begin. The Southern California Public Power Authority recently approved EnviroMission as a provider, but solar updraft hasn’t yet been proven to be commercially viable. That means EnviroMission might have trouble raising enough cash to get started. Still, we’re excited at the prospect of a new tool in our alternative energy arsenal — the more options we have, the better. source

NYT: 36 Hours in Tucson, AZ

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TUCSON has worked hard to shed its reputation as a tanning salon for retirees and snowbirds. To complement its natural beauty — a national park in its midst and mountains on four sides — the city has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into its downtown during the last decade. Instead of adding strip malls and high-rises, older buildings were saved and retooled as movie houses and museums. And with a deep-rooted Hispanic community, tides of Mexican immigrants and students from the University of Arizona who never left after graduation, the city has now taken on a youthful and multicultural glow. read more