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You'll have to fight it out with your erstwhile roomie Bob the Lawyer.
Dagnabbit, it is true, all of the nice guys come out of the woodwork after you are already taken! Why didn't I find Hatrack sooner, when the guys were running away in droves, while I was in college?
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It was amusing watching the salesguy discuss energy efficiencies while buying the air conditioner and heater. He was trying to do the pitch more to Steve. I was pretty quiet let him ramble for a while, while he explained the options available and Steve asked the questions, then I cut him off, saying we want this, this and this. And NO we don't want anything less efficient than 13 SEER.
All of a sudden his eyes got wide and he realized I knew what he was talking about more than Steve did. 3 years of Mech E classes actually did do me some good in real life even if I didn't get the extra degree Don't have it memorized anymore but I used to actually know the equation to calculate the SEER!
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How far along is the fusion reactor project coming? We have it up and running but it currently takes more power to run it than it puts out. As soon as we get it advanced enough to actually produce energy we'll be home free.
And we have the option of sending up big solar collecting stations in orbit, and have them beam the energy down to us via mircrowave radiation.
Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
Actually any form of energy usage causes global warming, unless there is so little that it all radiates away instead of having some of it caught by the atmosphere. All uses of energy produce waste heat.
I remember reading about the unexpected disaster in the "Age of Unlimited Energy" in 3001...
Posts: 1114 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
Well, fossil fuels release energy that originally came from the sun, as do hydro-power, wind power, and solar power. So none of these raise the total amount of energy on the earth.
But beaming down the energy from space definitely increases the total energy on the earth. Come to think of it, fission and fusion should, too. Won't that lead to higher latent tempatures than changing energy that originally came from the sun to a new form?
Of course, this ignores secondary effects such as the release of greenhouse gasses.
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Noemon, I checked out the thread. *shudder* Those are some disturbing possibilities! Of course, I have always thought the reality of a space elevator sounded like science fiction. Porter got all excited about the idea when he was reading the Red Mars series, and he was telling me about it. I would love it if something like that could work though. That would be so cool!!
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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