----- Original Message -----
From: "Harry Veeder" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2008 2:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Vo]:U.S. Freezes Solar Energy Projects
Considering _just_ their reflectivity, would big farms of solar panels
contribute to global warming or reduce it?
MC: If you are talking about solar-thermal, the mirrors concentrate sunlight
on absorbing tubes, so if you are the sun, you see a huge dark patch which
blots up your radiance -- the net energy absorbed gets eventually converted
to heat, so the effect on global warming is neutral. "Global warming" is not
due to man's use of energy [which eventually reduces to heat] but to the
"greenhouse" effect of gases such as carbon dioxide and methane which block
the radiation of earth's heat into space, so the sun's heat accumulates as
in a greenhouse. Solar PV panels appear dark blue or black because they also
absorb sunlight but do not release greenhouse gases.
Mike Carrell
Harry
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