Getting much reflection back to space is going to be hard, but maybe one does want to have floating algae growers. And since the ocean would be acting to concentrate the floating objects in areas of downwelling, one would not have to chase the material, it would come to you. So, to facilitate, deploy in areas where it would come back in the time to row the algae to sufficient size for harvesting.
One key problem, of course, would be that the downwelling areas can be large and variable--ah well. Mike MacCracken On 12/12/08 11:46 AM, "Greg Rau" <[email protected]> wrote: > > Agree that biofouling of anything floating would be a big problem. > On the other hand, construct the reflector(s) such that a harvester > ship could occationally and easily strip off the biomass and either > repackage for deep sea sinking (carbon storage) or process for > biofuels (fossil fuel substitution, CO2 avoidance). Solar energy > reflected, atmospheric CO2 stabilized, planet saved. You're welcome. > -Greg > > >> In addition to the other concerns already noted, the white polystyrene >> wouldn't stay white for long and the ocean surface that would have to be >> covered to have a significant impact is impractically large. There is no >> oily or non oily liquid that could be used for this purpose either. >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Dan Whaley" <[email protected]> >> To: "geoengineering" <[email protected]> >> Sent: Friday, December 12, 2008 10:27 AM >> Subject: [geo] Re: A simple idea I thought of >> >> >> >> Andrew... here is a link to info about this problem. >> >> http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch >> >> d >> >> On Dec 12, 6:49 am, "Ken Caldeira" <[email protected]> wrote: >>> The consumption of trash in the ocean by marine organisms is already a big >>> problem. Turtles etc eat plastic bags thinking they are jellyfish and then >>> die. >>> >>> I would not assume that organisms would spit out such particles, although >>> they could perhaps be designed to promote such a response. >>> >>> On Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 6:39 AM, Andrew Lockley >>> <[email protected]>wrote: >>> >>> >>> >>>> Well I suppose fish might try and eat it but that's the only problem I >>>> can think of. They'd probably spit it out anyway. I don't think it >>>> breaks down to anything particularly harmful. >>> >>>> 2008/12/12 [email protected] <[email protected]>: >>> >>>>> A question comes to mind here. >>>>> If polystyrene or other material were harmful to marine life, would >>>>> that not be counter productive? Perhaps further investigation into >>>>> this idea may produce somethig safe and effective. >>>>> Keep the ideas coming. >>>>> Steven Parkes >>> >>>>> On Dec 3, 1:15 pm, "Andrew Lockley" <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>>> If you dropped loads of tiny expanded polystyrene beads into the sea, >>>>>> these would reflect sunlight. In the Arctic they could also act like >>>>>> a 'raft' for snow to build up on. They could be made on big ships >>>>>> that >>>>>> dropped them into the sea at points where they were unlikely to be >>>>>> blown away, and could float around for many years in the open ocean >>>>>> before bio-degrading and/or sinking to the bottom of the sea. >>> >>>>>> An alternative method would be to pour an oily liquid into the oceans >>>>>> that reflects sunlight. It would have to be gas-permeable to allow >>>>>> oxygen through. I do not know of such a liquid. >> >> >> > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
