quattro digest, Vol 1 #3116 - more history......(NAC)

[Phil Payne]

> Would it be efficient? Not likely at the current solar to electric levels of performance.
But would it be essentially free and relatively environmentally clean? With exception of the
manufacturing of the facility and equipment, Yup. BUT, it potentially does have environmental
effects as to the weather, absorb enough solar energy and keep it from hitting the Earth, and
there is a potential cooling effect from the prevention of the solar to thermal energy
conversion from the sun to the ground to the air. As always, there is always a consequence as
to what we do, the need to have someone truely capable (climatologist) calculate this (which
could be a significant effect owing to the energy needs of people and the relative
in-efficiency of the process) becomes much more apparent once the whole picture is considered.
Can you say potentially, (synergistic effects considered, less CO2, SO2 etc in the air and
less solar surface warming) Ice Age? (perhaps the Disney movie release knows something....)

I saw a calculation a few years ago on the likely effect of local temperatures in the Sahara
if 0.5% of the incident energy were transported away - either through photovoltaic conversion
or just using long pipes at the focii of long trough-like mirrors.

I think the conclusion was that it would be a rain forest within twenty years.

--
  Phil Payne
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