IPCC report on global warming, and what to do about it

Feb 06, 2007 11:12

I read the Working Group 1 IPCC summary report on climate change ( Read more... )

global warming, engineering

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Comments 5

vrimj February 6 2007, 17:20:20 UTC
My prefered soultion is biodesil generating algie growing in eutropied water on people's roofs. This solves three problems (eutripication, energy indepence, carbon trapping) all at once.

Only problem is the best algie is only 20% biodesial by weight

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tevarin February 6 2007, 18:38:33 UTC
Cool idea. Where do you get the nutrient-enriched water? I could imagine using filtered sewage output, but making sure the flow is consistent and safe for the algae could be difficult.

And you want to make sure the ceiling doesn't leak :)

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vrimj February 6 2007, 18:49:55 UTC
Sewage would be an easy relaible source, and making it safe for algie is not at all hard.

Also waste water run-off is full of P and N and causes algil blooms, like thouse killing lakes and the everglades.

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anonymous February 6 2007, 22:35:43 UTC
I thought that the traditional idea for this was to build a big sunshade in orbit. It can sit in a highly eccentric orbit so that it's usually between the Earth and the Sun. It doesn't need to leave the area under it in total darkness if it can cover a broader area (e.g. twice the area with 50% light, or four times the area with 75% light). And space is the place for building giant things. Of course, you're right about the mass, so it is the kind of thing that you'd want to make in space, probably out of an asteroid. Bonus points for reflecting and focusing the excess sunlight for power generation purposes.

--josh

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anonymous February 7 2007, 01:16:24 UTC
Re: icebergs, what about using pykrete that has been engineered for a high albedo? From what I hear, it takes longer to melt than regular ice. Of course, there's the waste heat expended in making it, and when it eventually does melt, it would have some kind of effect on the ocean, presumably.

--josh

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