Why mirrors, rather than whatever's cheap, harmless, and opaque?
On Apr 28, 2:57 pm, Mike MacCracken <[email protected]> wrote:
> Dear Mr. Law: With respect to your suggestion, you need to do some
> background reading:
>
> The 1992 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report did a calculation of what
> would be required for near Earth orbit. Offsetting a full doubling of the
> CO2 concentration would require reducing the incoming solar radiation by
> something like 1.8-2% of the incoming solar radiation. The NAS indicated
> that to limit solar radiation by 1% (so about half the effect of a doubling)
> would take something like having 50,000 orbiting mirrors, each about 10 by
> 10 KILOMETERS in size (so, as they orbited, we¹d have many ongoing, but
> short, mirror-induced eclipses of the Sun). Thin films might well be
> lighter, but would have to be kept in shape by structural materials, and
> many are translucent, so greater area may be needed.
>
> They also reported on a proposal to insert a deflector of solar radiation at
> the L1 point (about 1.6M km toward the Sun), where there is equal
> gravitational pull from the Sun and Earth‹but active management is required
> to keep any object in place. This would require a deflector of radiation
> that was something like 1800 km in diameter, as I recall (most cost
> effectively put in place by building a manufacturing plant on the Moon).
> More recently, Angel has suggested lofting via electronic launcher from the
> Earth¹s surface something like a few trillion parasols, each about .8 meters
> in diameter‹something that would again be quite a large project.
>
> I¹ll leave out issues arising from the energy and environmental effects of
> putting something like this in place‹but suffice it to say that these
> projects would be enormously costly to put in place and would need to be
> sustained for generations, and all they would accomplish is to mean we could
> burn a bit more coal rather than pay the modest extra costs of nuclear,
> renewables, etc. Indeed, if one wants to put so much investment into going
> to space-based activities, it would seem far more plausible (to me) to be
> investing in a space-based contribution to the Earth¹s energy supply (like
> solar-powered satellites that would beam energy to the surface).
>
> Best, Mike MacCracken
>
> On 4/27/09 4:34 AM, "Raymond Law" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Hi Everybody,
> >
> > I was referred to joining this group with my layman's version of solution to
> > the subject crisis. The solutions that I am outlining below are a ' mixing
> > and matching ' of common knowledge, across a spectrum of existing and
> > commonly
> > used construction products, robotic tools and the use of the space shuttle.
> > And I believe that my suggestion could be the quickest and cheapest
> > solution
> > as of today. And I need everybody in the know to chip in and refine my
> > concepts, e.g., pointing out the problem areas, the weakest links, etc. And
> > also, when, how and where to go next, in the hope of achieving this goal for
> > the benefits of all mankind, ASAP .
> >
> >
> >
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________>
> _
>
> >
> >
> > Below is the outline of my concepts in the fast-track solutions in reversing
> > the global warming crisis. And I have to stress that these are only
> > concepts
> > and have yet to be developed furthers.
> >
> > Main points of my Reversing Global Warming Project :
> >
> > 1. The biggest heat source on earth's atmosphere is from the Sun and
> > earth's
> > inner heat pool. Contrary to other believes, carbon dioxide and other green
> > house gases would only affect the quality of our air, storing humidity and
> > altering the reflective/refractive proficiency of solar energy, etc. But
> > they
> > themselves do not generate heat. And if we try to reverse global warming
> > along this route, it would take too long for this route to be really
> > practical.
> >
> > 2. However, with today's technology and resources, mankind can still do
> > nothing in suppressing the heat coming up under our feet ; therefore, the
> > quickest and surest route is to pull a sun shade/blind over earth.
> >
> > 3. With today's knowledge and computer power, and the country's
> > understandings of earth's atmosphere, positioning acres of solar
> > refractive/reflective thin films ( widely used in new buildings' window
> > panes, worldwide and are currently having large volume production in U.S.,
> > China and the European Union ) in geo-stationary orbit, or much lower
> > orbits
> > if this visor is only need for a finite period of time, should not present
> > any major problems to the country. . Using mirrors will not be practical in
> > its handling and in its weight to surface area ratio.
> >
> > 4. The average radius of the earth is a known factor, add to it the average
> > height of the geo-stationary or much lower orbits for placing these solar
> > films is also a known factor. Thus, we can easily calculate the total
> > supposed surface area of earth and the hypothetical surface area of the
> > 'enlarged' earth, basing on earth's average radius plus the average
> > height
> > of these orbits for those solar films.
> >
> > 5. Space scientists and geologists should be able to determine the total
> > average 'enlarged' area of earth that are exposed to the Sun, couple that
> > with climatologists computation and putting them all together, they should
> > be
> > able to tell us the existing heat energy input per hour from the Sun's ray
> > hitting earth, non-stop. Because there is always a side of earth facing the
> > Sun.
> >
> > Having computed that solar energy intake per given time, then they
> > should be able to tell us the relevancy of these energy that is directly
> > affecting the warming and cooling of earth. And say, if the earth needs to
> > be
> > cooled down by ' X ' degrees in temperature, consequently, we would need to
> > reduce by how many percent of the Sun's solar energy that might be hitting
> > earth.
> >
> > 6. The refractive/reflective proficiency of all types of solar thin films
> > are of known factors, couple that to the need of reducing the Sun's solar
> > energy in terms of computed quantity, they should be able to categorically
> > determine how many acres of solar films would be needed to blanket earth
> > from
> > the geo-stationary or lower orbit. Again, we have more known factors
> > available.
> >
> > 7. Finally, deploying all these solar films would necessarily be needing
> > the
> > help of the Space Shuttle and some miniature, remotely-controllable
> > robots/jets. These robots/jets, even though simple in designs and
> > construction, would be needed in drawing those solar thin films out of the
> > Space Shuttle's cargo bay and trailing those solar films into the
> > pre-designated orbit/area in space.
> >
> > And after these solar films are ready for retraction, these solar
> > films
> > and miniature robots/jets would serve one more purpose as space trash bags
> > for collecting all those space junks of known and convenient trajectory
> > along
> > these solar films' earth-bound pathways.
> >
> > Naturally, we would still need to conduct thorough studies on the
> > effect
> > of how the extreme temperature-variations in outer space would affect the
> > integrity and performance of those solar films.
> >
> > 8. Care would need to be taken not to over-cool the earth. I have been
> > telling my friends that earth's global warming is a solvable problem. But
> > global cooling on earth is still beyond humans capability and resources
> > availability. The recently unusual cold spells all over the northern
> > hemisphere could be a perfect testimony to mankind's inability to
> > counteract
> > global cooling.
> >
> > 9. Lastly, these solar films must not be positioned over vegetation/green
> > belts and oceans, as the green vegetation in those areas are wholly
> > responsible for the production of the oxygen that mankind survives on. The
> > best locations for positioning these solar thin films would be over the
> > North
> > and South Poles ( this would also help to produce more ice over the poles,
> > if
> > so deemed needed ! ) and over deserts ( this would help to cool down the
> > deserts, albeit a little bit ).
> >
> > Looking forward to hearing from you guys, ASAP !
> >
> > Raymond Law
> >
>
>
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