The design of the energy towers is based on a speculative article from 1975 by Dr. Philip Carlson, a physicist in California, who had observed the downdrafts created during brief rainstorms and had contemplated possible alternative energy production based on the principle (Zwirn 1997).
In 1982, a team of engineers headed by Professor Dan Zaslavsky of the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) sought to improve the cost effectiveness of the design.
A decade later, Professor Zaslavsky's group succeeded in devising a design proposal in which the cost effectiveness ratio of the project was improved by a factor of seven over the original.
n 1994, the Israeli Minister of Energy nominated a 7 member expert committee, headed by Prof. M. Sokolov of Tel Aviv University, to review the project. Among the committee members were: two experts in thermodynamics and hydrodynamics; an expert in weather physics (climate in general and rain formation in particular); a structural engineer; the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Energy; an electrical engineer with wide experience in erecting different types of power stations; and the head of the R and D division of the Israeli Electric Corporation. Each one of them employed his own professional team. The Committee also hired professionals for special tasks such as redesign of the main shaft construction. It also consulted representatives of the Water Commission for the State of Israel, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Environment. The work continued over more than one year (Zaslavsky 2001).
The committee conclusions’ were:
- All physical principles were proven and re-proven beyond doubt.
- The project can be built completely by proven technologies.
- There is a large economic advantage compared to the conventional sources of energy.
- There are several knowledge gaps that could be bridged providing the possibility to further improve the economy.
In May of 2000, the project was confirmed by a review of over 70 scientists and technologists from India’s TIFAC -- Technology, Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council. TIFAC approached the State of Israel to cooperate in future work to build a large demonstration plant and commercialize the project. The proposed demonstration tower would be about 400 m high and about 150 m in diameter, with an average power output of 6.5MW to 10MW (Zaslavsky 2001). Several sites for the demonstration tower have been proposed and examined, however, as of December 2007, the project continues to remain indefinitely in the pre-planning stage.
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