How much energy will the AVE process produce?
Depending on the size, an AVE could generate 50 to 500 MW of electrical power. The cylindrical wall could have a diameter of 200 m and a height of 100 m; the vortex could be 50 m in diameter at its base and extend up to the tropopause. The energy production potential of the AVE far exceeds that of all other energy production processes. The major advantage over other solar energy technologies is that the solar heat collector can be the earth’s surface in its unaltered natural state. Conventional solar thermal power plant require enormous solar collectors and their working fluid has to be heated to a temperature significantly higher than ambient temperature. All thermal power plants require heat source significantly higher than the temperature of the bottom of the atmosphere because they use the bottom of the atmosphere as their heat sink. The AVE can use heat sources close to the temperature at the bottom of the atmosphere because the cold sink is the much colder upper troposphere. The
