3 ms·

Hmm... where do we pump the heat to?

by yrro 3y ago

ginko 3y ago
Space
- onion2k 3y ago
  The thermal capacity of space is quite low, what with it being a vacuum and everything.
  - karmakurtisaani 3y ago
    The original idea seems a bit out there, but technically you could use space as a heat sink. This is what happens on deserts at nights when the sky is clear for example.
    - rob74 3y ago
      Ok, then you just have to stop that obnoxious sun from heating it all up again during the day. Which leads us straight to the various geoengineering proposals for limiting the amount of energy absorbed from the sun. The problem (or rather, one of the problems) is to avoid falling into the opposite extreme...
      - karmakurtisaani 3y ago
        Well, technically no (I don't know why I'm arguing for this idea, as it's clearly infeasible). You could run a cooling system at night on the desert, where the heat would be radiated to space. The net effect would cool the planet. Obviously it would not be feasible for any significant cooling, but in theory it would work. I mean clearly the sun would keep heating up the planet, but this would be a different infeasible idea from the other infeasible ideas of shading the sun light and whatnot. But you know, anything but limiting consumption, touching our diets etc.
  - ginko 3y ago
    You don't need thermal capacity to transfer heat into space. Pump all the heat into one big black body radiator until it glows red hot, then divert the emanating radiation out into space.
    - yrro 3y ago
      > Pump all the heat Is this feasible given how the unwanted heat is spread throughout the atmosphere and ocean? > into one big black body radiator until it glows red hot, then divert the emanating radiation out into space. The atmosphere being in the way would seem to be a problem... I'm not a physicist though. I'd love to see some back of the envelope calculations exploring whether this is theoretically feasible.
ComputerGuru 3y ago
You’d have to convert it to usable energy. Efficiency might not be the greatest.

Hmm... where do we pump the heat to?

by yrro 3y ago

Hmm... where do we pump the heat to?

ginko 3y ago

Space

onion2k 3y ago
The thermal capacity of space is quite low, what with it being a vacuum and everything.
- karmakurtisaani 3y ago
  The original idea seems a bit out there, but technically you could use space as a heat sink. This is what happens on deserts at nights when the sky is clear for example.
  - rob74 3y ago
    Ok, then you just have to stop that obnoxious sun from heating it all up again during the day. Which leads us straight to the various geoengineering proposals for limiting the amount of energy absorbed from the sun. The problem (or rather, one of the problems) is to avoid falling into the opposite extreme...
    - karmakurtisaani 3y ago
      Well, technically no (I don't know why I'm arguing for this idea, as it's clearly infeasible). You could run a cooling system at night on the desert, where the heat would be radiated to space. The net effect would cool the planet. Obviously it would not be feasible for any significant cooling, but in theory it would work. I mean clearly the sun would keep heating up the planet, but this would be a different infeasible idea from the other infeasible ideas of shading the sun light and whatnot. But you know, anything but limiting consumption, touching our diets etc.
- ginko 3y ago
  You don't need thermal capacity to transfer heat into space. Pump all the heat into one big black body radiator until it glows red hot, then divert the emanating radiation out into space.
  - yrro 3y ago
    > Pump all the heat Is this feasible given how the unwanted heat is spread throughout the atmosphere and ocean? > into one big black body radiator until it glows red hot, then divert the emanating radiation out into space. The atmosphere being in the way would seem to be a problem... I'm not a physicist though. I'd love to see some back of the envelope calculations exploring whether this is theoretically feasible.

ComputerGuru 3y ago

You’d have to convert it to usable energy. Efficiency might not be the greatest.