ESolar, a California-based clean energy company, launched its new solar tower facility in Lancaster, California last week.

According to Alana Semuels of the L.A. Times, the mirrors on the tower "reflect the sun into a tower in the middle of the field, boiling water into steam that travels through pipes to power a turbine and create electricity. The plant, created by Pasadena company ESolar Inc., will be able to power 4,000 homes."

The technology behind the tower was created by Idealabs, run by CEO Bill Gross, or as Time Magazine once called him, "the man with a billion-dollar brain," and has backers such as Steven Spielberg and Michael Douglas.

Gross told the L.A. Times that energy "is probably the biggest opportunity of the century," and that the "world's energy needs and the demand to make that clean energy is going to be a challenge and an opportunity for smart entrepreneurs."

The tower was built and running in about 18 months.