Hydra Tower: Skyscraper Harnesses Lightning For Energy (PICTURES)

From Inhabitat:

Taking a cue from good ol' Ben Franklin, this electrifying tower design would harness bolts of lighting to smash molecules of water into hydrogen and oxygen. The result is clean hydrogen power that emits only water vapor and heat. Called Hydra Tower, the skeleton-like spire is made of graphene, a carbon super-material that is highly conductive and perfect for pulling energy straight from the sky. Just don't stand too close to it unless you want your next hairdo to channel Don King.

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Hydrogen power is an exciting alternative energy source because it burns clean and emits only water vapor and heat -- however the tech is crippled by the fact that it takes a lot of energy to produce hydrogen fuel. This eye-popping Hydra Tower aims to solve the hydrogen conundrum in the most logical awesome way possible -- by harnessing bolts of lighting to smash molecules of water into hydrogen and oxygen. The spire's sinuous exoskeleton is made from graphene, a carbon super-material that is 200 times stronger than steel and highly conductive to heat and electricity - the better to channel incredible amounts of energy straight from the sky.

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Hydrogen power is an exciting alternative energy source because it burns clean and emits only water vapor and heat -- however the tech is crippled by the fact that it takes a lot of energy to produce hydrogen fuel. This eye-popping Hydra Tower aims to solve the hydrogen conundrum in the most logical awesome way possible -- by harnessing bolts of lighting to smash molecules of water into hydrogen and oxygen. The spire's sinuous exoskeleton is made from graphene, a carbon super-material that is 200 times stronger than steel and highly conductive to heat and electricity - the better to channel incredible amounts of energy straight from the sky.

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I'd Rather Be Struck By Lightning Than Use This Shockingly Brilliant!

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Comments

[Edy Williams]

02:01 PM on 03/26/2011

LIGHTNING? iM readin navy detonating "EXPLOSIVES",underwater, SAN DIEGO COAST! for training! Killing,sea turtles,bottlenose dolphins,coral beds,sea Kelp,Orcas,grey whales,tuna,halibut sea crabs, lobster,grey seals that have a "PUP" every 11 months. THIS IS FOR "training"?? WE HAVE AN ENTIRE NETWORK OF OUR OCEANS TRYING TO THRIVE THRU POLUTION & U.S NAVY, BLOWING IT ALL UP FOR PRACTICE.! KNOW OBAMA WOULD NEVER APROVE THIS,. THE ONE WHO WAS IN CHARGE, VOTE GETS SHIPPED TO TOILET CLEANING..

[Brazosmud]

12:43 PM on 03/20/2011

No tin foil hats allowed

[LMB80]

11:11 PM on 03/18/2011

Maybe this concept wouldn't be capable of obtaining a sufficient amount of energy due to the fact that lightening has an occurrence factor, but if used in conjunction with other renewables I don't see why we're not taking a risk with this as opposed to a nuclear power plant. Weigh out the risk factors...

[Malcolm Hensley]

12:50 AM on 03/14/2011

Wasn't there a science fiction novel about 2 earthlings visiting a planet of skinny ape/human type creatures that ran their whole planet of lighting strikes?

[chachachamp]

01:28 PM on 03/16/2011

funny comment--i thought you were going to say science fiction movie--anyway i got a laugh out of the first part--

[butchcliff]

08:28 PM on 03/13/2011

Interesting idea. Not feasable.

[thruseer]

07:40 PM on 03/13/2011

I'm all in favor of advancing technology, especially energy technology, but you are in some alternate reality if you think that thing in your illustration is beautiful. I would call Terminix.

[Kevin J Walker]

05:34 PM on 03/12/2011

They stole my lightning! I was almost hit by lightning twice -- in Wisconsin we get a lot of storms, even "thunder snow." So the power of lightning is well acknowledged. Dr. Frankenstein powered his lab with it.

There are over 1,800 thunderstorms all over the planet every second, evening out the +/- charges. In the movie “Atlas Shrugged,” philosopher Ayn Rand’s Sci Fi book – soon to be released this summer -- [John Galt] used it as a source of power.

I even have an idea for what I call a Ley Ship (for the American southwest) a delta winged helium dirigible that would also the earth’s lines of magnetic force, or Ley Lines after British researcher Willie Ley who documented them. See my science articles at http://thewordnetpaper.tripod.com . Remember those iron filings on a sheet of paper over a magnet in science class? Well, the earth has those lines as well. But bigger. We can use them. There is no shortage of ideas and applied technology. Just political will power.

[Howard Pearlman]

08:53 AM on 03/12/2011

Now or you need is the not yet invented Weather making plant to produce the storms for the lightening.

Or we could just build 100,000 windmills across America in the next 3 years !

[edgeman au]

06:39 AM on 03/12/2011

nice concept, call me back when the technology to make continuous perfect carbon nano tubes is ready and we will talk.

[Jeffrey A Beard]

05:30 AM on 03/12/2011

If it can harness enough energy to frack water, why can't it be converted and used directly in the grid?

[instarx]

03:56 AM on 03/12/2011

Considering that graphene currently cost about $100 a gram, this is going to be one heck of an expensive building.

[cam1002]

11:18 PM on 03/11/2011

This is so funny, love the article and I hope it leads to something, what's funny is that tell who's the republican and who's the Democrat just by reading the posts. It's a fun game.

[cam1002]

11:33 PM on 03/11/2011

That should say ....that I can tell.....(and I surely can)

[IfIonlyknew]

12:11 AM on 03/14/2011

That skill should make you a lot of money some day.

[chachachamp]

01:30 PM on 03/16/2011

and i like to play who's the male and who's the female

[Liberalicious]

09:13 PM on 03/11/2011

I've got one of these on top of my Delorean. It's proved useful.

[Acebass]

07:47 PM on 03/11/2011

Tesla did this before we had AC current.

[keramos]

01:00 AM on 03/12/2011

Not commercially and that was his own fault

[Acebass]

04:58 AM on 03/13/2011

Well there is some speculation that Bell had something to do with it.

[Genders]

04:20 PM on 03/11/2011

It's only about 20KWH per strike. That's 2$ per strike worth of power, cool idea though.