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From: eli@bbn.com (Steve Elias)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,sci.misc
Subject: Re: greenhouse effect
Message-ID: <22285@bbn.COM>
Date: 18 Mar 88 05:04:55 GMT
References: <34557@kestrel.ARPA> <2430@umd5.umd.edu> <2116@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> <22089@bbn.COM> <35092@kestrel.ARPA>
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In article <35092@kestrel.ARPA> king@kestrel.ARPA (Dick King) writes:
>In article <22089@bbn.COM>, eli@bbn.com (Steve Elias) writes:

! !  	and solar power satellites would be even bigger thermal
! !  	offenders than solar cells on the ground.  
! 
! Actually no becuase the waste heat would be dissipated in space.

	actually yes!  waste heat would be dissipated both 
	in the atmosphere and on the ground.  (microwave transmission).

! Tell me... If a plant per year had blown out like Chernobyl, would you
! believe an industry spokesman that attributed it to bad luck and said
! that you really should have had one blowout in two decades?  No?  I
! thought not.  Why do you believe industry critics who claim that
! Chernobyl's should be happening each year, and that we've had
! incredibly GOOD luck so far?

	i believe this?  thanks for letting me know.  keep me informed.

! Cute little projects that make natural gas by biomass and that heat a
! few homes, or even a few hundred, abound.  They are the darlings of
! the Lovins of the world.  When one extrapolates to making a serious
! dent in energy requirements, one is quickly back to the era when
! everybody must be a farmer to supply the biomass.

	extrapolate if you like.  my point stands: there are energy sources 
	which do not upset the thermal balance of the planet.  that's it.

	i'm talking about the greenhouse effect, not whatever your
	darling power source might be.	that particular example,
	biomass, also has the benefit of using as much CO2 in the biomass
	process as is produced when the natural gas burns.  closed cycle.
	(get some good chemistry dirt to tear this one apart, if you can!)

! Burning any fuel, except at a very low temperature, causes nitrous
! oxide.  In fact, heating air to a high temperature in any manner has
! that effect.

	ah.  get out the pliers...  we'll get that bicuspid yet.