An Inconvienient Truth, - Global Warming

[Dandy]

Agafaster wrote:
...
Actually, the thing is these things will mostly reflect light and heat back into space.

I don't think so:

"Problem: Current Solar Cells can "receive" just one wavelength

The weak point of previous solar cells is rooted in physics: The principle is that an arriving photon overrides the so called "semiconductor bandgap", the "energy distance" within an semiconductor between an electron fixed in the crystal and an electron free to move. This means, that all components of the sunlight with longer wavelengths and lower energy levels have no effect on the solar cell other than heating it up. A light beam of exactly the correct wavelength releases one electron and therefor is transformed into current with optimal efficiency.

Light beams of shorter wavelengths - thus the entire visible light spectrum, ultraviolet radiation and so on - as well just produce one charge carrier, which receives the energy of the bandgap. Thus the higher energy content of the visible light can't be utilised and only leads to a warming of the solar cells again (Nano Letters, vol 6, p 424)."

No mention of "reflecting to space"...

Agafaster wrote:

besides, any 80+°C change in the panels can be used to heat water - thus cooling the panel.

However - last but not least the heat ends up in the athmosphere.

Agafaster wrote:

the real problem isnt heating the surrounding air, but the air retaining heat too readily.

So in the last consequence heating the surrounding air leads to a global warming.

Agafaster wrote:

...
ask yourself:
* 'Do I REALLY need to drive a 4 litre 4x4 to Tescos/school/work and back ?'
* 'Do I REALLY need to drive fast ?' (40-60mph is about the most fuel efficient speed range to drive - given aerodymanics/engine efficiency etc)
* 'Do I REALLY need to drive, when its only a mile away ?'
...

Well - I sold my car two years ago.
Depending on the weather I either take the bus or ride my bicycle to work (about 4 miles each direction).

My life is much more relaxed now...

[cecilia]

"Problem: Current Solar Cells can "receive" just one wavelength

this solar technology

[Dandy]

blobrana wrote:
>>Cue the inevitable claim/counterclaim "discussion"...
The problem with global warming is that the issue has become totally politicised in the worst possible way so that clarity has become near impossible.

Hum,
They dont have any scientific arguments against Global warmng now.
...

That's right.
Now it's time to come up with neat ideas how to fix the mess...

[shillard]

nadoom wrote:
For god sake doo something, or we are all going down the {bleep}ter.

on watching that film i must say i am quite disturbed by it, we really are on the road to hell at the moment.

Yeah, it really disturbed me too - but not for the same reasons:

http://shillard.blogspot.com/2006/09/al-gore-liar-plain-stupid-or-both.html


It's a bit like kicking a puppy, but at least you feel sorry for the puppy.

[shillard]

Agafaster wrote:
* Use flourescent tubes/energy saving bulbs in place of incandescent bulbs - and switch em off when not in use!

ask yourself:
* 'Do I REALLY need to drive a 4 litre 4x4 to Tescos/school/work and back ?'
* 'Do I REALLY need to drive fast ?' (40-60mph is about the most fuel efficient speed range to drive - given aerodymanics/engine efficiency etc)

My car's trip computer tells me that it reaches maximum fuel efficiency @ 130km/h - that's consistently the lowest Litres/100km figure.  So in the interest of sustaining the planet, I drive @ 130km/h whenever I can.

BTW: You might want to check out the effects of sustained UV lighting on the human body before you go advocating it as the obvious replacement for incandescent bulbs.  GovCo here has just announced than incandescenets will be phased out from 2010, so by 2009 I will have acquired a 50 year supply.

[PMC]

I agree with the optimum speed for fuel efficiency issue, my Alfa seems to sip fuel sparingly at 70mph but drinks like Ollie Reed when negotiating towns and worst of all, speed bumps.

[CannonFodder]

Wilse wrote:
Well, once the almighty Attenborough said it was so, the debate was over, as far as I'm concerned. ;-)

Quite possibly the only civilized man left in this filthy self obsessed world we live in. ;-)

[Tomas]

nadoom wrote:
For god sake doo something, or we are all going down the {bleep}ter.

on watching that film i must say i am quite disturbed by it, we really are on the road to hell at the moment. Do you think we can turn it around? Do we still have time? what about the legacy we are leaving for our children!

What about the more important issues like overfishing? Recent studies show that the oceans will be pretty much empty by as little as 50 years if the current trend continues. If the sealife dies, then the whole food chain will collapse which will cause mass extinction of all life on earth.
The global warming trend is highly exaggerated by the  news media, because such stories sell. There is indeed a warming trend, but it is also a fact that the earth has been much warmer than this in the past and that we are also currently emerging from a small ice age.
But yes, there is a warming trend and we humans have most likely a role in this trend, but some of it is also due to natural fluctuations of the climate. But collapsed food chain and pollutants going into the food chain and nature is a much bigger treat to the survival of us humans. But this news does sadly not sell so much, since it is not something that the average person notice these days.

Did you by the way know that Greenland was in the past green and ice free? And that they have also found fossils of tropical plants and animals in the arctic Norwegian island called svalbard, which suggest that the climate has been much warmer even here in the very north.

The southern polar cap is actually now experiencing the opposite of here in north and the ice cap has actually been increasing over the last years.

[Tomas]

First of all we are not breeding like Rabbits, in fact many European countries have dangerously large negative population growth.

That is indeed true for some European countries, but the world population is sadly still increasing drastically for every year and i think it is going to be hard for us to do something about that now, other than if we manage to start a war with weapons of mass destruction. What we need to do is to colonize another planet like Mars.

But i think in the end that diseases and such will take care of some of our problem.

[CannonFodder]

First of all we are not breeding like Rabbits, in fact many European countries have dangerously large negative population growth

Good job they allow immigrants in then eh?

[shillard]

PMC wrote:
I agree with the optimum speed for fuel efficiency issue, my Alfa seems to sip fuel sparingly at 70mph but drinks like Ollie Reed when negotiating towns and worst of all, speed bumps.

Must be a Euro thing - my Merc guzzles fuel like it's going out of fashion as well when at slow, stop-start speeds.

Give me a motorway anyday.  Preferably one with a lot of signs sporting big black circles with diagonal lines.

[Karlos]

Hum,
They dont have any scientific arguments against Global warmng now.

Perhaps, but the sad fact is that any policy making will be in the hands of politicians, which are susceptable to lots of other arguments other than scientific. As I said, the argument has become politicised which is one of the worst things that can happen. Absolutely no genuinely effective counter measures are remotely possible (thanks to realpolitik) now.

Face it, we're fecking doomed :lol:

[metalman]

blobrana wrote:

Hum,
They dont have any scientific arguments against Global warmng now.

An influential global panel of scientists declared today that global warming is "unequivocal", that its effects are likely to last for centuries, and that mankind is almost certainly to blame.

Climate report (2.2mb, PDF)

The IPCC Summary for Policymakers, is the work of political appointees, not of scientists. The scientific, fourth assessment report will not be available for another three months.

Verdict first, then trial.
Alice in Wonderland

The rules for the fourth assessment report specifically require changes to be made to the body of the report to match the IPCC Summary for Policymakers.

[Wilse]

@Metalman:

Something I posted on whyzzat applies equally well here:

"I used to "know" there was no such thing as climate change and that attempts to prove otherwise were part of a global conspiracy.

Then I reluctantly accepted it as fact but was 100% certain it was all natural and that attempts to prove otherwise were part of a global conspiracy.

Then I reluctantly accepted that man helped cause it.
 
I accepted that there was no global conspiracy.

Because I realised the real cause.






It was Clinton's fault."

;-)

[metalman]

It's a religion.



Eco-pilgrims gather to 'heed the Goracle'

[shillard]

Oh boy, it just gets better.


http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/gores-mansion-uses-too-much-power/2007/02/28/1172338670663.html


That puppy just got another kick in the guts.