Xref: utzoo talk.politics.misc:8748 sci.misc:1244
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From: eli@spdcc.COM (Steve Elias)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,sci.misc
Subject: Re: greenhouse effect / solar power satellites
Message-ID: <767@spdcc.COM>
Date: 1 Apr 88 20:40:25 GMT
References: <763@spdcc.COM> <5578@well.UUCP> <766@spdcc.COM>
Reply-To: eli@spdcc.COM (Steve Elias)
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Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA
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hi there friends of Pournelle and normal folks.

Jef's second set of numbers are indeed on the mark.  my statement about
large power needs and incident solar flux on the earth was 99% off.
i'd appreciate a bit of restraint from the more excited readers out there.
there's no need for replies filled with curses and slurs written in capital
letters.  the theory i am espousing is not random, nor is it my own.  

i have access to Drake's notes on the subject and will provide them if 
a single person out there really cares.  if not, never mind & hit 'n'.

my own back of the envelope silly numbers agree with Jef's second set.
his first set dealt with earthside efficiency of the power receiving
stations, which is irrelevant.  incident energy from the power satellites
is the only factor.

Jef's calculations show that incident power from solar power satellites
would have to be many times present power needs in order to equal solar
flux.  this is true -- i came up with 5e16 watts absorbed by the earth.
it would take a thousand terawatt satellites in order to equal that flux.

if we estimate that power needs will grow -- we
would need only a few tens of satellites to be on the order of a few percent
of the solar flux.  

one of the more atmospheric types out there (jwm?) mentioned that the
earth system responds on the order of days or months to small additions
of energy.  a question for you, jwm or jfc:

how does the earth's atmosphere respond to long term flux increases of a
few percent?  i think that the reaction would not be simple reradiation
of the energy into space.  i don't think i'm far from Drake's thinking
on this issue.  would anybody like to see his calculations and thoughts
when i get his notes?    

or would you prefer to see slurs written in either lower or capital case?
i don't recall making any such slurs until Jef and Jerry Pournelle got
into the action.  

both Jef and Pournelle ought to turn down their Tera-Egos.  one of the only
things that pisses this asshole off is snobbish behavior.  i may have 
bullshitted my flux claim, but it was in response to a super-snob article
filled with slurs in capital letters -- the one from "Jef Pournelle".

later, SETI fans.

steve