D.I.Y Planet Cooling

[Michaelangelica]

Drivel? ; Turtle? - a bit harsh?!

 

 

Another bright idea

Pumping 20 to 25 liters of aerosols per second to keep enough particles in the stratosphere would cool temperatures, causing the planet's carbon sinks to suck more carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

 

"That kind of flow rate can be handled by a single fire hose," said Caldeira. "For something like $100 million a year you could probably keep a hose in the stratosphere suspended by an array of balloons with pumps along the way."

 

The problem is what happens if we stop short or screw it up.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=3412543&page=1

[Turtle]

Drivel? ; Turtle? - a bit harsh?!

 

 

Another bright idea http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/Story?id=3412543&page=1

 

Sorry...I don't understand the reference? :hyper: I can't find anywhere that I said 'drivel'. Not that I wouldn't use the word mind you. :hyper: Which post/idea exactly is too harsh? :shrug:

 

Oh...or do you mean the article with the aerosol hose idea you posted?

 

...We should think of geo-engineering only as a parachute, said Caldeira. It's something you desperately hope you never need.

 

I'll get started on my fleet of computer-piloted Helium-3 mini dirigibles post-haste. :smart: ;) :)

[aquamarinegreen]

Don't worry about trying to slow global warming - fossil fuels will be used up possibly within our own lifetime and we will probably soon be using nuclear fusion energy. And this is a temporary warming period before we descend into the next glaciation - we are in an interglacial period of the current 2 million year glacial age. Human activity may have contributed to the slightly longer interglacial than the norm. Enjoy this summer ...

[Boerseun]

Don't worry about trying to slow global warming - fossil fuels will be used up possibly within our own lifetime and we will probably soon be using nuclear fusion energy. And this is a temporary warming period before we descend into the next glaciation - we are in an interglacial period of the current 2 million year glacial age. Human activity may have contributed to the slightly longer interglacial than the norm. Enjoy this summer ...

Denial's a *****, innit?

 

Tell me - what did you pay for that beachfront property again? :confused:

[Kayra]

Sorry I did not read the entire thread, perhaps this has been stated already.

 

This might be a tad outside the box but more pollution may be the solution.

 

As it turns out, pollution is having a secondary effect that is mitigating the greenhouse effect by about 30%.

 

Soot particles from combustion are much smaller then the dust particles that normally seed clouds. When clouds are seeded with these smaller particles, they are more reflective and as a result have caused significant global dimming downwind of areas that create them.

 

As most manmade greenhouse gas emissions are due to one form of combustion or another, creation of soot particles tend to go hand in hand with creation of the greenhouse gas. This is likely the reason that most estimates and models of greenhouse effect are having difficulty creating accurate predictions.

 

Two problems fall out of this realization (that I can see). First is that the effects of soot particles for global cooling is a short lived phenomena (they are soon washed out of the atmosphere) compared to the effects of greenhouse gasses (that remain until consumed in a process).

 

Secondly most efforts seem to be in the direction of reducing particulate and not greenhouse gasses themselves as one is a visible problem that also causes acid rain and the other is an invisible problem much easier to ignore. With this trend we are likely to end up shooting ourselves in our other foot as well by hastening the Global Warming trend.

 

As I see it, what we will need is time to come up with a permanent solution to global warming. At a guess, we will need as much as 25-75 years before we have all the technologies (and the global social will) required to a) not create any more greenhouse gasses, and B) remove/mitigate existing greenhouse effects.

 

To buy that time, we need to offset the existing greenhouse effects as much as possible, and soot particulate may very well be the intermediate term answer. It will bring its own issues to be certain. Not the least of which is what will be the effect of a 10-20% drop in sunlight reaching the surface on plant/animal life? What will be the long term effect of breathing these soot particles? Is the cure worse then the disease?

 

Personally, I suspect that global warming is a vastly more significant process then these effects.

 

Global delivery system? We already have one. The very vehicles we drive every day. If an additive can be created that makes cars create more pure carbon particulate without increasing greenhouse gasses or reactive particulate then we are set. The amount of additive can be set regionally to try to ensure as even a coverage as possible. The net result is a global system of controlled delivery of an agent that can partially counteract the effects of global warming. Since the effects are continuously removed from the atmosphere through rainfall it allows for greater control of the current global levels on an ongoing basis.

 

While this entire system seems quite clear in my head, I am having difficulty articulating it. Much of what I have spewn out here is just shorthand :)

 

On the plus side, racing might just the most environmentally sound thing you could do ;)

 

 

Give a hoot... please pollute. :D

[ggoodknight]

Denial's a *****, innit?

 

Tell me - what did you pay for that beachfront property again? :doh:

 

It isn't denial. The Cosmic Ray theories already are better fleshed out, as far as the basic science goes, than the CO2 models, and the RealClimate folks whose business (mostly at NCAR) is writing grants and generating computer models are very possibly in process of becoming eclipsed.

 

The arguments given by the CO2 believers against cosmoclimatology seem to me to be much like the arguments that Creation "scientists" make against evolution.

 

If you push something hard enough, it will fall over. Cause precedes effect. However, with CO2, the warming starts before the CO2 rise in the climate record, and CO2 falls after a cooling starts. The CO2 as warming bogeyman depends on a feedback model that posits a feedback mechanism such that it forces the heating despite not being the immediate cause.

 

My brain hurts. I'll reach for Occam's razor, the galactic cosmic ray model is much more simple and elegant, and explains the temperature / Carbon 14 tracking over the past 600 million years, not to mention the warmings and coolings of recorded human history.

 

See the cosmoclimatology thread. I'd post some links but I'm in newbie link purgatory.

[ggoodknight]

Don't worry about trying to slow global warming - fossil fuels will be used up possibly within our own lifetime and we will probably soon be using nuclear fusion energy. And this is a temporary warming period before we descend into the next glaciation - we are in an interglacial period of the current 2 million year glacial age. Human activity may have contributed to the slightly longer interglacial than the norm. Enjoy this summer ...

 

No, we will never run out of fossil fuels, it will just eventually get too expensive to obtain to just burn. I recall one of my first undergrad chem lectures... the chairman of the chemistry department saying what a waste it was to use it as fuel when when you could make such great stuff with it.

[Michaelangelica]

. . . water-pumping has been the primary driver for the solar industry prior to the California rebate program. At the Sun Pumps booth they introduced their new solar powered pool pump for water circulation and filtration. This new product is powered by a 120v DC motor by 900 watts of solar.

 

In California pools are a major user of electricity. Since most pool pumps run during the day they are using peak electricity.

 

Seeing Sun Pumps bring an elegant solution to the table to solve this problem warmed my heart. Pool pumping does not qualify for solar rebates which this reporter thinks is a grave mistake.

Solar Power 2007 Dazzles Exhibitors and Visitors

 

 

 

:) ;) :evil:

Reform agriculture to store carbon.

New advances in biomass-based technologies indicate that the potential to generate electricity and biofuel, and to sequester carbon in soils, is enormous. Brown-coal-fired power plants should be immediately converted to biomass combustion.

Pyrolysis machines need to be subsidised and installed on all Australian farms, and the electricity and biofuel they generate become integrated into our energy systems.

How we can save ourselves - Opinion - theage.com.au

 

 

BIKES

Apparently in some European Cities you can get a bike from a vending machine, use it, and replace it at another vending machine!

 

Australia is having a its first National Ride-to-Work day on the 17th of October.

 

S.F. moving to catch up with European bike-share programs

San Francisco is one push of the pedal closer to offering residents and visitors a bike-sharing program in an effort to ease traffic congestion and to promote health through exercise.

 

More than a dozen European cities have government-sponsored programs in which bikes are provided for people to share. Last month, Paris started the most ambitious program yet, providing more than 10,000 bikes at 750 stations and expecting that the program will be double in size by year's end.

 

Now, hilly San Francisco is gearing up for a program of its own. A proposed city contract with Clear Channel Outdoor Inc. that gives the company advertising rights on transit shelters also would require the company to set up a bike-sharing program if the city opts for one.

S.F. moving to catch up with European bike-share programs

[Michaelangelica]

Buy A Clothes Line Says Al Gore!

By: Kelly Nickless

 

As the worldwide movement for climate change really starts to gather some momentum, one small piece of house hold equipment is generating a huge amount of interest especially in the USA.

 

The worlds champion environmentalist Al Gore, lists the laundry line in his top ten things we can do right now to reduce our eco foot print.

 

The growing movement in the USA calling for the use of laundry lines and clothes lines is headed by a group called the Laundry List, which helps to inform and rally its members on the use of natural drying devices and help in the fight against strict local covenants which ban the use of laundry lines in many states and neighbourhoods throughout the United States.

 

A reduction of power consumption of around 6% can be achieved when a laundry line is used to dry laundry at home.

 

By eliminating the need for a tumble dryer or at least reducing its use in your home can have a number of ongoing effects such as these listed below,

 

• an immediate saving on your energy and electricity bills

• clothes have a fresh smell and last longer as they are dried naturally

• you get some exercise hanging out the laundry

• you feel better as you get outside in the sun and fresh air

• tumble driers do not need to be manufactured anymore which is a massive saving to the environment and planet

• new power infrastructure does not need to be built as we are reducing our energy requirements

 

These are just a few points that relate to the use of clothes lines, washing lines, laundry lines and clothes airers throughout the world.

 

Products that use natural energy like solar and wind to dry laundry can make a huge difference in reducing emissions!

Buy A Clothes Line Says Al Gore!

 

BUY THE WONDERFUL AUSTRALIAN INVENTION A "HILLS HOIST"

Welcome to Hills

Hills - The Hills Story

[Qfwfq]

Basically, my question was because I have a plasma tv. Is it still negatively impacting the environment (per Craigs well articulated post) if I use solar energy to give it the juice it drinks?

Yes.

 

Well, actually, it's really a matter of what you compare it with. For the same solar panel, it's still better to make better use of the output, so saving carbon fuels. The supply of solar panels is not exactly unlimited and the footprint of producing them isn't exactly zero; no point buying one to justify wasting its output.

 

If you already have a plasma, just use it sensibly until it's had its day.

[Michaelangelica]

A dirty way to fight climate change

 

By Steven I. Apfelbaum and John Kimble Thu Nov 29, 3:00 AM ET

 

Brodhead, Wis.; and Lincoln, Neb. - Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs and plant a tree – these are the most popular strategies for mitigating climate change today.

 

Yet world leaders gathering for the climate-change summit in Bali, Indonesia, next week should consider an alternative.

It's one of the most overlooked yet most effective and inexpensive strategies available: Store carbon in the soil.

Hallelujah !

A dirty way to fight climate change - Yahoo! News

SEE TERRA PRETA SUB FORUM:-

http://hypography.com/forums/terra-preta.html

[Michaelangelica]

Greenpeace urges kangaroo consumption to fight global warming | Herald Sun

 

Greenpeace urges kangaroo consumption to fight global warming

Report author Dr Mark Diesendorf said reducing beef consumption by 20 per cent and putting Skippy on the dinner plate instead would cut 15 megatonnes of greenhouses gases from the atmosphere by 2020.

 

It ain't easy being green

Trends: Ethical Eating

 

There have been ethical vegetarians in both East and West since ancient times, but what are the moral and political decisions that we have to make these before we tuck in these days? Organic or biodynamic?

Local or fair trade? Farmed clean or wild-caught? Free-range or open range?

Vegetarian, vegan, fruitarian or raw foodist? And what is freeganism?

We take a trip through the moral maze of eating in the early twenty-first century.

By Design

RN By Design - 1December2007 - Trends: Ethical Eating

freeganism is impossible at my local shopping centre mall. The 'waste' area looks like Fort Knox.

[Michaelangelica]

Biodegradable coffins rise up

 

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Cynthia Beal wants to be an Oregon cherry tree after she dies. She has everything to make it happen — a body, a burial site and a biodegradable coffin.

 

"It is composting at its best," said Beal, owner of The Natural Burial Company, which will sell a variety of eco-friendly burial products when it opens in January, including the Ecopod, a kayak-shaped coffin made out of recycled newspapers.

 

Biodegradable coffins are part of a larger trend toward "natural" burials, which require no formaldehyde embalming, cement vaults, chemical lawn treatments or laminated caskets. Advocates say such burials are less damaging to the environment.

. . .

 

The Green Burial Council (!!!)is working on certification programs to verify the commitment and quality of providers who say they are going natural.

Biodegradable coffins rise up - USATODAY.com

:shrug: :(

In one old episode of Dr. Who (Tom Baker ) a mad gardener puts human bodies though a mulcher first. Surely this would be better as it seems it takes so long for bones to break down.:thumbs_up

In Tibet with "Sky Burials" :) someone is/was? employed to smash the bones for the birds to get at the marrow

Good nutrition and/or blood and bone organic fertiliser..

[freeztar]

Eh....I'd prefer pyrolysis myself. :thumbs_up

[Michaelangelica]

Eh....I'd prefer pyrolysis myself. ;)

There is always dipping-in-liquid-nitrogen, and then a little tap with a hammer.

:hihi:

It can be messy in warm weather though.

 

I curse the person who made the suggestion about boiling just enough water for what you need as I have been so aware, since, that I don't do this. I am not sure the jug copes with one cup anyway! ( I am the only tea drinker here)

So I can use the hot water to kill "weeds" boil my egg or rinse plates OK!

;)

I noticed that when I turn on the computer the printer/scanner also turns on. I rarely use the printer so I have taken to turning it off and only turning it on when needed. Only a little thing but there must be a lot of idling printers on the planet.

That's today's suggestion for DIY Planet Cooling-something to make YOU feel guilty.!

[Monomer]

I noticed that when I turn on the computer the printer/scanner also turns on. I rarely use the printer so I have taken to turning it off and only turning it on when needed. Only a little thing but there must be a lot of idling printers on the planet.

 

All the little things count!

[Michaelangelica]

The Funniest 'Green' Book You'll Read

It opens:

 

We bet we can guess what your morning routine looks like: You gently click off your solar-powered alarm clock, crawl out of your hemp sheets, don organic cotton slippers and a recycled fleece robe, and shuffle across your bamboo floors to the bathroom, where you bathe in rainwater and botanicals harvested from your own garden.

 

Not quite? Good

 

The book is a reality check of sorts for the average eco-minded individual or those looking to get more green

. . .

Hey, if you can't laugh at global warming, what can you laugh at, right?

AlterNet: Blogs: Environment: The Funniest 'Green' Book You'll Read