Most people wouldn't want to live within a stone's throw of a volcano. But the residents of Stockton-on-Tees in northeastern England may soon rely on their friendly neighborhood "peak" for green power.

With construction due to start in late 2010, a proposed tower of power (pictured above in a design by Heatherwick Architecture) would produce energy and heat for more than a hundred thousand homes, organizers say.

The volcano-shaped biomass station was designed to blend into the surrounding grasslands close to Middlehaven, a derelict former industrial area that is being "regenerated" into a community with striking architecture, said Matthew Day, project director for development at Bio Energy Investments.

Rather than building a small, inconspicuous station, Day said, "we thought, no, we're going