One of the biggest problems Australia is facing today is the threat of global warming. As a result, the Australian government is taking many steps to reduce emissions, such as promoting the use of florescent bulbs which use less energy. There are also many non-governmental projects going on to create alternative energy. One of the most important is being run by EnviroMission Ltd. The company is making solar "Tower of Power" that, once completed, may power up to 200,000 households.
EnviroMission''s building will look somewhat like an upside-down golf tee. There will be a six mile circular glass low-profile building with turbines inside of it. There will be a 1000 meter chimney in the center (twice the height of the Empire State Building). Sunlight would heat the air inside the building, pushing air up through the chimney at upwards of 15 meters per second and driving turbines that produce electricity. At night, heat storing materials that have absorbed the heat during the day will slowly release heat, continuing the airflow.
The picture is a smaller-scale version sucessfully built in Manzanares, Spain. It produced about 50kW of power (in comparison to the 200mW the new one will produce).
I think this is a good way of showing that there is more than one way to skin a cat. "Conventional" solar power is plagued with problems-inefficiency, fragility, expense-and is still being developed. EnviroMission has circumvented this problem by harvesting the solar energy via a different method. What are some other possible ways to harvest solar power? What could EnviroMission be doing better? Will it work? It is a interesting idea that will hopefully take off.

All of the information I have stated was said in some place or another on http://www.enviromission.com.au/index.htm.