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Geoengineering for dummies
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My human civilization is facing (much like us) the threat of anthropogenic climate change. For whatever reasons, they are unwilling to take action by reducing the use of fossil fuels and refuse to use "normal" geoengineering.
Ultimately, they decide for a rather unusual (and stupid) solution: air-conditioning
Pretty straightforward eh! If the atmosphere is too hot just cool it down. Obviously the consequences on the climate would be dire to say the least. However, I am not interested in that. What I'm asking is:
Do we have the technology to build an "air-conditioner" (the scale is not important, a single gargantuan one or a billion tiny ones I'm not interested) that can cool the atmosphere, such that the waste heat is in the form of infrared photons that are (mostly) radiated into space? (So that we have a net cooling of the planet as a system)
Limitations: It can use only current technology and must be powered by electricity.
reality-check physics
edited 4 hours ago
Frostfyre
17.4k962123
asked 5 hours ago
SilverCookies
3,32941847
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
favorite
My human civilization is facing (much like us) the threat of anthropogenic climate change. For whatever reasons, they are unwilling to take action by reducing the use of fossil fuels and refuse to use "normal" geoengineering.
Ultimately, they decide for a rather unusual (and stupid) solution: air-conditioning
Pretty straightforward eh! If the atmosphere is too hot just cool it down. Obviously the consequences on the climate would be dire to say the least. However, I am not interested in that. What I'm asking is:
Do we have the technology to build an "air-conditioner" (the scale is not important, a single gargantuan one or a billion tiny ones I'm not interested) that can cool the atmosphere, such that the waste heat is in the form of infrared photons that are (mostly) radiated into space? (So that we have a net cooling of the planet as a system)
Limitations: It can use only current technology and must be powered by electricity.
reality-check physics
edited 4 hours ago
Frostfyre
17.4k962123
asked 5 hours ago
SilverCookies
3,32941847
Does it have to be infra-red emission? After all greenhouse makes that more difficult and you'd end in a vicious cycle of more heat -> more emission -> more greenhouse -> more heat
– ArtificialSoul
4 hours ago
Depends on how far you are willing to loosen the definition of air-conditioner: The greenhouse effect may be dubbed a reverse air-conditioner, and thus any technology designed to bring up the amount of infrared radiated into space, or more specifically, the parts of the atmosphere then engineered to radiate more, may be eligible for the monicker 'air-conditioner' - but then the borders between terraforming and building of an airconditioner would be blurred to the extreme.
– bukwyrm
4 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
favorite
up vote
3
down vote
favorite
My human civilization is facing (much like us) the threat of anthropogenic climate change. For whatever reasons, they are unwilling to take action by reducing the use of fossil fuels and refuse to use "normal" geoengineering.
Ultimately, they decide for a rather unusual (and stupid) solution: air-conditioning
Pretty straightforward eh! If the atmosphere is too hot just cool it down. Obviously the consequences on the climate would be dire to say the least. However, I am not interested in that. What I'm asking is:
Do we have the technology to build an "air-conditioner" (the scale is not important, a single gargantuan one or a billion tiny ones I'm not interested) that can cool the atmosphere, such that the waste heat is in the form of infrared photons that are (mostly) radiated into space? (So that we have a net cooling of the planet as a system)
Limitations: It can use only current technology and must be powered by electricity.
reality-check physics
edited 4 hours ago
Frostfyre
17.4k962123
asked 5 hours ago
SilverCookies
3,32941847
My human civilization is facing (much like us) the threat of anthropogenic climate change. For whatever reasons, they are unwilling to take action by reducing the use of fossil fuels and refuse to use "normal" geoengineering.
Ultimately, they decide for a rather unusual (and stupid) solution: air-conditioning
Pretty straightforward eh! If the atmosphere is too hot just cool it down. Obviously the consequences on the climate would be dire to say the least. However, I am not interested in that. What I'm asking is:
Do we have the technology to build an "air-conditioner" (the scale is not important, a single gargantuan one or a billion tiny ones I'm not interested) that can cool the atmosphere, such that the waste heat is in the form of infrared photons that are (mostly) radiated into space? (So that we have a net cooling of the planet as a system)
Limitations: It can use only current technology and must be powered by electricity.
reality-check physics
reality-check physics
edited 4 hours ago
Frostfyre
17.4k962123
asked 5 hours ago
SilverCookies
3,32941847
edited 4 hours ago
Frostfyre
17.4k962123
asked 5 hours ago
SilverCookies
3,32941847
edited 4 hours ago
Frostfyre
17.4k962123
edited 4 hours ago
Frostfyre
17.4k962123
edited 4 hours ago
Frostfyre
17.4k962123
17.4k962123
asked 5 hours ago
SilverCookies
3,32941847
asked 5 hours ago
SilverCookies
3,32941847
asked 5 hours ago
SilverCookies
3,32941847
3,32941847
Does it have to be infra-red emission? After all greenhouse makes that more difficult and you'd end in a vicious cycle of more heat -> more emission -> more greenhouse -> more heat
– ArtificialSoul
4 hours ago
Depends on how far you are willing to loosen the definition of air-conditioner: The greenhouse effect may be dubbed a reverse air-conditioner, and thus any technology designed to bring up the amount of infrared radiated into space, or more specifically, the parts of the atmosphere then engineered to radiate more, may be eligible for the monicker 'air-conditioner' - but then the borders between terraforming and building of an airconditioner would be blurred to the extreme.
– bukwyrm
4 hours ago
add a comment |Â
Does it have to be infra-red emission? After all greenhouse makes that more difficult and you'd end in a vicious cycle of more heat -> more emission -> more greenhouse -> more heat
– ArtificialSoul
4 hours ago
Depends on how far you are willing to loosen the definition of air-conditioner: The greenhouse effect may be dubbed a reverse air-conditioner, and thus any technology designed to bring up the amount of infrared radiated into space, or more specifically, the parts of the atmosphere then engineered to radiate more, may be eligible for the monicker 'air-conditioner' - but then the borders between terraforming and building of an airconditioner would be blurred to the extreme.
– bukwyrm
4 hours ago
Does it have to be infra-red emission? After all greenhouse makes that more difficult and you'd end in a vicious cycle of more heat -> more emission -> more greenhouse -> more heat
– ArtificialSoul
4 hours ago
Does it have to be infra-red emission? After all greenhouse makes that more difficult and you'd end in a vicious cycle of more heat -> more emission -> more greenhouse -> more heat
– ArtificialSoul
4 hours ago
Depends on how far you are willing to loosen the definition of air-conditioner: The greenhouse effect may be dubbed a reverse air-conditioner, and thus any technology designed to bring up the amount of infrared radiated into space, or more specifically, the parts of the atmosphere then engineered to radiate more, may be eligible for the monicker 'air-conditioner' - but then the borders between terraforming and building of an airconditioner would be blurred to the extreme.
– bukwyrm
4 hours ago
Depends on how far you are willing to loosen the definition of air-conditioner: The greenhouse effect may be dubbed a reverse air-conditioner, and thus any technology designed to bring up the amount of infrared radiated into space, or more specifically, the parts of the atmosphere then engineered to radiate more, may be eligible for the monicker 'air-conditioner' - but then the borders between terraforming and building of an airconditioner would be blurred to the extreme.
– bukwyrm
4 hours ago
add a comment |Â
5 Answers
5
active
oldest
votes
up vote
5
down vote
Not possible
Earth's energy budget is such that there is an estimate +0.58 W/m$^2$ energy flux, averaged over the Earth's surface. For a surface of $5.1times10^14 text m^2$, this means we have to push about 300 TW back into space.
Total human energy consumption from all sources is about 18 TW. Global primary net productivity is around 70 TW. Therefore, all humanity, and all plants and algae on the planet, capture about 1/3 of the energy that we need to direct back into space.
The sun hits the Earth with 174,000 TW of solar power, so it is kind of overwhelming. Current technology can't solve the global warming problem by direct energy transfer.
answered 4 hours ago
kingledion
64.9k22205358
+1 for the numbers showing the magnitude of the problem. We can absolutely pave Africa and Central Asia with reflective tinfoil. Nobody lives there anyway. (For suitably chosen meanings of "nobody"). We can place lots and lots of mirrors in orbit. We can spread a planet-wide aerosol cloud in the stratosphere. And if (or maybe, when) the climate will really take a bad turn we will most certainly do it.
– AlexP
4 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
Completely possible
Fly your trusty Giant Ice Cube spaceship to comet, cut out a giant block ice, fly it back to Earth and drop it in the ocean. Repeat every few years until the comet is empty, then panic and destroy all robots.
(If it works for Futurama, it'll work for you!)
answered 4 hours ago
RonJohn
11.7k12658
2
Debunked: worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/64015/…. Dropping ice cubes from space adds more energy to the Earth than it removes!
– kingledion
4 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
Possible
This is a computer heat sink:
It is built out of metal, and to maximize its surface-to-volume ratio.
You need is continental arrays of these beasts in temperate areas, and in such a way that they get the least solar exposition possible. They should also be sealed within glass with a vacuum inside. By night they will pull heat from the ground and radiate it to space. You may have to move the population of North America, Europe and Russia to the tropics in order to cover enough area for this to work, but hey, what is a little eviction between friends?
answered 4 hours ago
Renan
32.6k768167
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
The greenhouse effect is what keeps this earth from being a snowball, without it, global mean temperature would be -17°C - it is just the tiniest amount out of whack - about 2.7W/m2, meaning two and a half Watts per square meter too much power is retained, slowly heating the earth. (http://wiki.bildungsserver.de/klimawandel/index.php/Treibhauseffekt). So to just cancel it, we'd need to get that down to zero. To actually cool down, we'd need to go beyond that. Heat pumps are about 300% effective, meaning for every Watt invested you heat as much as you would using resistive heating of three Watts. Same applies to cooling. So to get -3W of effect, we need to invest 1W into a heat pump. For every square meter. This should work solar powered, because otherwise the energy-production will free even more energy (it might bite us in the rear with solar modules, too, because they absorb a lot of the light to heat - we'd need special modules that have a high albedo). So we'd need 1W/m2 of solar capacity, on the whole earth, or, assuming 20% efficiency on the solar panels, 250W/m2 light (already including nightime) - solar cells on 1/50th of global surface, which is just double the surface of North America.
The direct way of increasing albedo by covering some landmass in mirrors would be hugely more effective, but no airconditioning per se (if you're not inclined to redub earth 'airconditioner'...)
answered 3 hours ago
bukwyrm
2,459415
Heat pumps have to pump the heat somewhere. Where would you put the part of the circuit that heats up?
– YElm
3 hours ago
Into the ocean for rather quick karma, or as infrared above the clouds. Both are bonkers, but on different levels. OP wanted an airconditioner, which is a heat pump, so i went for it.
– bukwyrm
3 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
Build a shade. No, build many shades.
Weather baloons are cheap, so are the space blankets in a first aid kit. Attach 4 baloons to the corners of a big blanket, add a frame to keep the blanket unfolded and let the construct soar into the sky. Just make sure you have the cooling side of the blanket facing down...
Weather baloons usually rise until they pop in the thin atmosphere, so you need to anchor your sun shades above cloud level somehow. A thin wire back down to earth might work, or you attach a little water tank and a controller to the bottom (parachute style). The controller measures the current altitude and releases water if the baloon sinks too low due to gas escaping.
answered 4 hours ago
YElm
4,477626
add a comment |Â
5 Answers
5
active
oldest
votes
5 Answers
5
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
5
down vote
Not possible
Earth's energy budget is such that there is an estimate +0.58 W/m$^2$ energy flux, averaged over the Earth's surface. For a surface of $5.1times10^14 text m^2$, this means we have to push about 300 TW back into space.
Total human energy consumption from all sources is about 18 TW. Global primary net productivity is around 70 TW. Therefore, all humanity, and all plants and algae on the planet, capture about 1/3 of the energy that we need to direct back into space.
The sun hits the Earth with 174,000 TW of solar power, so it is kind of overwhelming. Current technology can't solve the global warming problem by direct energy transfer.
answered 4 hours ago
kingledion
64.9k22205358
+1 for the numbers showing the magnitude of the problem. We can absolutely pave Africa and Central Asia with reflective tinfoil. Nobody lives there anyway. (For suitably chosen meanings of "nobody"). We can place lots and lots of mirrors in orbit. We can spread a planet-wide aerosol cloud in the stratosphere. And if (or maybe, when) the climate will really take a bad turn we will most certainly do it.
– AlexP
4 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
5
down vote
Not possible
Earth's energy budget is such that there is an estimate +0.58 W/m$^2$ energy flux, averaged over the Earth's surface. For a surface of $5.1times10^14 text m^2$, this means we have to push about 300 TW back into space.
Total human energy consumption from all sources is about 18 TW. Global primary net productivity is around 70 TW. Therefore, all humanity, and all plants and algae on the planet, capture about 1/3 of the energy that we need to direct back into space.
The sun hits the Earth with 174,000 TW of solar power, so it is kind of overwhelming. Current technology can't solve the global warming problem by direct energy transfer.
answered 4 hours ago
kingledion
64.9k22205358
+1 for the numbers showing the magnitude of the problem. We can absolutely pave Africa and Central Asia with reflective tinfoil. Nobody lives there anyway. (For suitably chosen meanings of "nobody"). We can place lots and lots of mirrors in orbit. We can spread a planet-wide aerosol cloud in the stratosphere. And if (or maybe, when) the climate will really take a bad turn we will most certainly do it.
– AlexP
4 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
5
down vote
up vote
5
down vote
Not possible
Earth's energy budget is such that there is an estimate +0.58 W/m$^2$ energy flux, averaged over the Earth's surface. For a surface of $5.1times10^14 text m^2$, this means we have to push about 300 TW back into space.
Total human energy consumption from all sources is about 18 TW. Global primary net productivity is around 70 TW. Therefore, all humanity, and all plants and algae on the planet, capture about 1/3 of the energy that we need to direct back into space.
The sun hits the Earth with 174,000 TW of solar power, so it is kind of overwhelming. Current technology can't solve the global warming problem by direct energy transfer.
answered 4 hours ago
kingledion
64.9k22205358
Not possible
Earth's energy budget is such that there is an estimate +0.58 W/m$^2$ energy flux, averaged over the Earth's surface. For a surface of $5.1times10^14 text m^2$, this means we have to push about 300 TW back into space.
Total human energy consumption from all sources is about 18 TW. Global primary net productivity is around 70 TW. Therefore, all humanity, and all plants and algae on the planet, capture about 1/3 of the energy that we need to direct back into space.
The sun hits the Earth with 174,000 TW of solar power, so it is kind of overwhelming. Current technology can't solve the global warming problem by direct energy transfer.
answered 4 hours ago
kingledion
64.9k22205358
answered 4 hours ago
kingledion
64.9k22205358
answered 4 hours ago
kingledion
64.9k22205358
answered 4 hours ago
kingledion
64.9k22205358
64.9k22205358
+1 for the numbers showing the magnitude of the problem. We can absolutely pave Africa and Central Asia with reflective tinfoil. Nobody lives there anyway. (For suitably chosen meanings of "nobody"). We can place lots and lots of mirrors in orbit. We can spread a planet-wide aerosol cloud in the stratosphere. And if (or maybe, when) the climate will really take a bad turn we will most certainly do it.
– AlexP
4 hours ago
add a comment |Â
+1 for the numbers showing the magnitude of the problem. We can absolutely pave Africa and Central Asia with reflective tinfoil. Nobody lives there anyway. (For suitably chosen meanings of "nobody"). We can place lots and lots of mirrors in orbit. We can spread a planet-wide aerosol cloud in the stratosphere. And if (or maybe, when) the climate will really take a bad turn we will most certainly do it.
– AlexP
4 hours ago
+1 for the numbers showing the magnitude of the problem. We can absolutely pave Africa and Central Asia with reflective tinfoil. Nobody lives there anyway. (For suitably chosen meanings of "nobody"). We can place lots and lots of mirrors in orbit. We can spread a planet-wide aerosol cloud in the stratosphere. And if (or maybe, when) the climate will really take a bad turn we will most certainly do it.
– AlexP
4 hours ago
+1 for the numbers showing the magnitude of the problem. We can absolutely pave Africa and Central Asia with reflective tinfoil. Nobody lives there anyway. (For suitably chosen meanings of "nobody"). We can place lots and lots of mirrors in orbit. We can spread a planet-wide aerosol cloud in the stratosphere. And if (or maybe, when) the climate will really take a bad turn we will most certainly do it.
– AlexP
4 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
Completely possible
Fly your trusty Giant Ice Cube spaceship to comet, cut out a giant block ice, fly it back to Earth and drop it in the ocean. Repeat every few years until the comet is empty, then panic and destroy all robots.
(If it works for Futurama, it'll work for you!)
answered 4 hours ago
RonJohn
11.7k12658
2
Debunked: worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/64015/…. Dropping ice cubes from space adds more energy to the Earth than it removes!
– kingledion
4 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
Completely possible
Fly your trusty Giant Ice Cube spaceship to comet, cut out a giant block ice, fly it back to Earth and drop it in the ocean. Repeat every few years until the comet is empty, then panic and destroy all robots.
(If it works for Futurama, it'll work for you!)
answered 4 hours ago
RonJohn
11.7k12658
2
Debunked: worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/64015/…. Dropping ice cubes from space adds more energy to the Earth than it removes!
– kingledion
4 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
up vote
3
down vote
Completely possible
Fly your trusty Giant Ice Cube spaceship to comet, cut out a giant block ice, fly it back to Earth and drop it in the ocean. Repeat every few years until the comet is empty, then panic and destroy all robots.
(If it works for Futurama, it'll work for you!)
answered 4 hours ago
RonJohn
11.7k12658
Completely possible
Fly your trusty Giant Ice Cube spaceship to comet, cut out a giant block ice, fly it back to Earth and drop it in the ocean. Repeat every few years until the comet is empty, then panic and destroy all robots.
(If it works for Futurama, it'll work for you!)
answered 4 hours ago
RonJohn
11.7k12658
edited 4 hours ago
answered 4 hours ago
RonJohn
11.7k12658
answered 4 hours ago
RonJohn
11.7k12658
answered 4 hours ago
RonJohn
11.7k12658
11.7k12658
2
Debunked: worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/64015/…. Dropping ice cubes from space adds more energy to the Earth than it removes!
– kingledion
4 hours ago
add a comment |Â
2
Debunked: worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/64015/…. Dropping ice cubes from space adds more energy to the Earth than it removes!
– kingledion
4 hours ago
2
2
Debunked: worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/64015/…. Dropping ice cubes from space adds more energy to the Earth than it removes!
– kingledion
4 hours ago
Debunked: worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/64015/…. Dropping ice cubes from space adds more energy to the Earth than it removes!
– kingledion
4 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
Possible
This is a computer heat sink:
It is built out of metal, and to maximize its surface-to-volume ratio.
You need is continental arrays of these beasts in temperate areas, and in such a way that they get the least solar exposition possible. They should also be sealed within glass with a vacuum inside. By night they will pull heat from the ground and radiate it to space. You may have to move the population of North America, Europe and Russia to the tropics in order to cover enough area for this to work, but hey, what is a little eviction between friends?
answered 4 hours ago
Renan
32.6k768167
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
Possible
This is a computer heat sink:
It is built out of metal, and to maximize its surface-to-volume ratio.
You need is continental arrays of these beasts in temperate areas, and in such a way that they get the least solar exposition possible. They should also be sealed within glass with a vacuum inside. By night they will pull heat from the ground and radiate it to space. You may have to move the population of North America, Europe and Russia to the tropics in order to cover enough area for this to work, but hey, what is a little eviction between friends?
answered 4 hours ago
Renan
32.6k768167
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
up vote
1
down vote
Possible
This is a computer heat sink:
It is built out of metal, and to maximize its surface-to-volume ratio.
You need is continental arrays of these beasts in temperate areas, and in such a way that they get the least solar exposition possible. They should also be sealed within glass with a vacuum inside. By night they will pull heat from the ground and radiate it to space. You may have to move the population of North America, Europe and Russia to the tropics in order to cover enough area for this to work, but hey, what is a little eviction between friends?
answered 4 hours ago
Renan
32.6k768167
Possible
This is a computer heat sink:
It is built out of metal, and to maximize its surface-to-volume ratio.
You need is continental arrays of these beasts in temperate areas, and in such a way that they get the least solar exposition possible. They should also be sealed within glass with a vacuum inside. By night they will pull heat from the ground and radiate it to space. You may have to move the population of North America, Europe and Russia to the tropics in order to cover enough area for this to work, but hey, what is a little eviction between friends?
answered 4 hours ago
Renan
32.6k768167
answered 4 hours ago
Renan
32.6k768167
answered 4 hours ago
Renan
32.6k768167
answered 4 hours ago
Renan
32.6k768167
32.6k768167
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
The greenhouse effect is what keeps this earth from being a snowball, without it, global mean temperature would be -17°C - it is just the tiniest amount out of whack - about 2.7W/m2, meaning two and a half Watts per square meter too much power is retained, slowly heating the earth. (http://wiki.bildungsserver.de/klimawandel/index.php/Treibhauseffekt). So to just cancel it, we'd need to get that down to zero. To actually cool down, we'd need to go beyond that. Heat pumps are about 300% effective, meaning for every Watt invested you heat as much as you would using resistive heating of three Watts. Same applies to cooling. So to get -3W of effect, we need to invest 1W into a heat pump. For every square meter. This should work solar powered, because otherwise the energy-production will free even more energy (it might bite us in the rear with solar modules, too, because they absorb a lot of the light to heat - we'd need special modules that have a high albedo). So we'd need 1W/m2 of solar capacity, on the whole earth, or, assuming 20% efficiency on the solar panels, 250W/m2 light (already including nightime) - solar cells on 1/50th of global surface, which is just double the surface of North America.
The direct way of increasing albedo by covering some landmass in mirrors would be hugely more effective, but no airconditioning per se (if you're not inclined to redub earth 'airconditioner'...)
answered 3 hours ago
bukwyrm
2,459415
Heat pumps have to pump the heat somewhere. Where would you put the part of the circuit that heats up?
– YElm
3 hours ago
Into the ocean for rather quick karma, or as infrared above the clouds. Both are bonkers, but on different levels. OP wanted an airconditioner, which is a heat pump, so i went for it.
– bukwyrm
3 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
The greenhouse effect is what keeps this earth from being a snowball, without it, global mean temperature would be -17°C - it is just the tiniest amount out of whack - about 2.7W/m2, meaning two and a half Watts per square meter too much power is retained, slowly heating the earth. (http://wiki.bildungsserver.de/klimawandel/index.php/Treibhauseffekt). So to just cancel it, we'd need to get that down to zero. To actually cool down, we'd need to go beyond that. Heat pumps are about 300% effective, meaning for every Watt invested you heat as much as you would using resistive heating of three Watts. Same applies to cooling. So to get -3W of effect, we need to invest 1W into a heat pump. For every square meter. This should work solar powered, because otherwise the energy-production will free even more energy (it might bite us in the rear with solar modules, too, because they absorb a lot of the light to heat - we'd need special modules that have a high albedo). So we'd need 1W/m2 of solar capacity, on the whole earth, or, assuming 20% efficiency on the solar panels, 250W/m2 light (already including nightime) - solar cells on 1/50th of global surface, which is just double the surface of North America.
The direct way of increasing albedo by covering some landmass in mirrors would be hugely more effective, but no airconditioning per se (if you're not inclined to redub earth 'airconditioner'...)
answered 3 hours ago
bukwyrm
2,459415
Heat pumps have to pump the heat somewhere. Where would you put the part of the circuit that heats up?
– YElm
3 hours ago
Into the ocean for rather quick karma, or as infrared above the clouds. Both are bonkers, but on different levels. OP wanted an airconditioner, which is a heat pump, so i went for it.
– bukwyrm
3 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
up vote
0
down vote
The greenhouse effect is what keeps this earth from being a snowball, without it, global mean temperature would be -17°C - it is just the tiniest amount out of whack - about 2.7W/m2, meaning two and a half Watts per square meter too much power is retained, slowly heating the earth. (http://wiki.bildungsserver.de/klimawandel/index.php/Treibhauseffekt). So to just cancel it, we'd need to get that down to zero. To actually cool down, we'd need to go beyond that. Heat pumps are about 300% effective, meaning for every Watt invested you heat as much as you would using resistive heating of three Watts. Same applies to cooling. So to get -3W of effect, we need to invest 1W into a heat pump. For every square meter. This should work solar powered, because otherwise the energy-production will free even more energy (it might bite us in the rear with solar modules, too, because they absorb a lot of the light to heat - we'd need special modules that have a high albedo). So we'd need 1W/m2 of solar capacity, on the whole earth, or, assuming 20% efficiency on the solar panels, 250W/m2 light (already including nightime) - solar cells on 1/50th of global surface, which is just double the surface of North America.
The direct way of increasing albedo by covering some landmass in mirrors would be hugely more effective, but no airconditioning per se (if you're not inclined to redub earth 'airconditioner'...)
answered 3 hours ago
bukwyrm
2,459415
The greenhouse effect is what keeps this earth from being a snowball, without it, global mean temperature would be -17°C - it is just the tiniest amount out of whack - about 2.7W/m2, meaning two and a half Watts per square meter too much power is retained, slowly heating the earth. (http://wiki.bildungsserver.de/klimawandel/index.php/Treibhauseffekt). So to just cancel it, we'd need to get that down to zero. To actually cool down, we'd need to go beyond that. Heat pumps are about 300% effective, meaning for every Watt invested you heat as much as you would using resistive heating of three Watts. Same applies to cooling. So to get -3W of effect, we need to invest 1W into a heat pump. For every square meter. This should work solar powered, because otherwise the energy-production will free even more energy (it might bite us in the rear with solar modules, too, because they absorb a lot of the light to heat - we'd need special modules that have a high albedo). So we'd need 1W/m2 of solar capacity, on the whole earth, or, assuming 20% efficiency on the solar panels, 250W/m2 light (already including nightime) - solar cells on 1/50th of global surface, which is just double the surface of North America.
The direct way of increasing albedo by covering some landmass in mirrors would be hugely more effective, but no airconditioning per se (if you're not inclined to redub earth 'airconditioner'...)
answered 3 hours ago
bukwyrm
2,459415
answered 3 hours ago
bukwyrm
2,459415
answered 3 hours ago
bukwyrm
2,459415
answered 3 hours ago
bukwyrm
2,459415
2,459415
Heat pumps have to pump the heat somewhere. Where would you put the part of the circuit that heats up?
– YElm
3 hours ago
Into the ocean for rather quick karma, or as infrared above the clouds. Both are bonkers, but on different levels. OP wanted an airconditioner, which is a heat pump, so i went for it.
– bukwyrm
3 hours ago
add a comment |Â
Heat pumps have to pump the heat somewhere. Where would you put the part of the circuit that heats up?
– YElm
3 hours ago
Into the ocean for rather quick karma, or as infrared above the clouds. Both are bonkers, but on different levels. OP wanted an airconditioner, which is a heat pump, so i went for it.
– bukwyrm
3 hours ago
Heat pumps have to pump the heat somewhere. Where would you put the part of the circuit that heats up?
– YElm
3 hours ago
Heat pumps have to pump the heat somewhere. Where would you put the part of the circuit that heats up?
– YElm
3 hours ago
Into the ocean for rather quick karma, or as infrared above the clouds. Both are bonkers, but on different levels. OP wanted an airconditioner, which is a heat pump, so i went for it.
– bukwyrm
3 hours ago
Into the ocean for rather quick karma, or as infrared above the clouds. Both are bonkers, but on different levels. OP wanted an airconditioner, which is a heat pump, so i went for it.
– bukwyrm
3 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
Build a shade. No, build many shades.
Weather baloons are cheap, so are the space blankets in a first aid kit. Attach 4 baloons to the corners of a big blanket, add a frame to keep the blanket unfolded and let the construct soar into the sky. Just make sure you have the cooling side of the blanket facing down...
Weather baloons usually rise until they pop in the thin atmosphere, so you need to anchor your sun shades above cloud level somehow. A thin wire back down to earth might work, or you attach a little water tank and a controller to the bottom (parachute style). The controller measures the current altitude and releases water if the baloon sinks too low due to gas escaping.
answered 4 hours ago
YElm
4,477626
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
Build a shade. No, build many shades.
Weather baloons are cheap, so are the space blankets in a first aid kit. Attach 4 baloons to the corners of a big blanket, add a frame to keep the blanket unfolded and let the construct soar into the sky. Just make sure you have the cooling side of the blanket facing down...
Weather baloons usually rise until they pop in the thin atmosphere, so you need to anchor your sun shades above cloud level somehow. A thin wire back down to earth might work, or you attach a little water tank and a controller to the bottom (parachute style). The controller measures the current altitude and releases water if the baloon sinks too low due to gas escaping.
answered 4 hours ago
YElm
4,477626
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
up vote
0
down vote
Build a shade. No, build many shades.
Weather baloons are cheap, so are the space blankets in a first aid kit. Attach 4 baloons to the corners of a big blanket, add a frame to keep the blanket unfolded and let the construct soar into the sky. Just make sure you have the cooling side of the blanket facing down...
Weather baloons usually rise until they pop in the thin atmosphere, so you need to anchor your sun shades above cloud level somehow. A thin wire back down to earth might work, or you attach a little water tank and a controller to the bottom (parachute style). The controller measures the current altitude and releases water if the baloon sinks too low due to gas escaping.
answered 4 hours ago
YElm
4,477626
Build a shade. No, build many shades.
Weather baloons are cheap, so are the space blankets in a first aid kit. Attach 4 baloons to the corners of a big blanket, add a frame to keep the blanket unfolded and let the construct soar into the sky. Just make sure you have the cooling side of the blanket facing down...
Weather baloons usually rise until they pop in the thin atmosphere, so you need to anchor your sun shades above cloud level somehow. A thin wire back down to earth might work, or you attach a little water tank and a controller to the bottom (parachute style). The controller measures the current altitude and releases water if the baloon sinks too low due to gas escaping.
answered 4 hours ago
YElm
4,477626
edited 3 hours ago
answered 4 hours ago
YElm
4,477626
answered 4 hours ago
YElm
4,477626
answered 4 hours ago
YElm
4,477626
4,477626
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
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Does it have to be infra-red emission? After all greenhouse makes that more difficult and you'd end in a vicious cycle of more heat -> more emission -> more greenhouse -> more heat
– ArtificialSoul
4 hours ago
Depends on how far you are willing to loosen the definition of air-conditioner: The greenhouse effect may be dubbed a reverse air-conditioner, and thus any technology designed to bring up the amount of infrared radiated into space, or more specifically, the parts of the atmosphere then engineered to radiate more, may be eligible for the monicker 'air-conditioner' - but then the borders between terraforming and building of an airconditioner would be blurred to the extreme.
– bukwyrm
4 hours ago