Environment Forum
Global environmental challenges
Energy from — molten salt?
In these green times energy producers are leaving no stone unturned in the hunt for new sources of energy.
The Los Angeles Times reports that rocket-builder RocketDyne and a Santa Monica-based renewable energy company, SolarReserve, are planning to build a plant that they say could eventually power 100,000 homes by using solar power and molten salt.
The idea, which analysts say is promising, is to use solar power, collected in a huge array of tilting mirrors, to heat up molten salt to over 1,000 degrees Farenheit and use the resulting steam to drive a turbine and generate electricity.
The molten salt would then be cooled and recycled to repeat the process – generating no emissions.
