Hi All

Yesterday the temperature peaked at 42.7 degrees C [108.86 degrees F] here in Brisbane, Australia, the hottest February day on record. A lot of people was its global warming throwing the weather patterns into chaos, and after the hottest decade ever I'm inclined to believe it. Question is what's the culprit? Greens want to say "carbon dioxide greenhouse" but I suspect we're being hit more by the effects of land clearing changing the water-vapour patterns. So many green areas have been turned into water-less housing plots.

Any ideas?

Adam

PS If it is carbon dioxide greenhouse - and that must be a factor - what's the best way forward? Personally I'd go for the clean-coal option first, since it's the power source of choice here in Oz. By clean coal I mean carbon sequestration by mineralising it, and instead of burning the stuff we need to make hydrogen from it [C + 2H2O -> CO2 + 2H2...] and use that to run fuel-cells.

Advanced hi-temp fission reactors will also be a BIG step forward, especially ones able to crack hydrogen from water with their "waste" heat. That can power cars etc.

But longer term I think we need to invest, as a planet, in the space elevator-solar power satellite combo. We all know that Space, to be really opened up, needs more material lobbed into orbit so prices come down. The best option - once carbon nano-tubes are available as "rope" - is the space elevator. It's the only system that can sustain the multi-thousand ton to GEO program that serious SPS needs. And it will drop to-orbit prices to the ~ $220/kg mark, and ultimately a LOT lower. Some believe it can bring prices down to maybe ~ $10/kg.

Imagine what can be done at ~ $10/kg to GEO or beyond [to L4/5 isn't much of an increment energy wise]... Bernal and O'Neil's old dream starts becoming realistic. With modern plasma technology to deflect cosmic-rays a 10,000 person space-colony can be built massing a mere 50,000 tons because it won't need multi-million ton passive shielding. At 5 tons per person for say ~ $15/kg to L4/5 will mean about ~ $75,000 delivery costs per person. That's getting into the range of prices for retirement-style living on space-colonies. Plenty of people will retire with super between ~ $300 K - $600 K, thus a potential market exists.

Can you imagine? Off-Earth retirement communities with people tending real farms and doing self-sufficiency things after they no longer need to work for real terrestrial $$. Active, productive lives but a wholly separate economy. Hence the growing "greying" of the West needn't be an intolerable burden, but a real opportunity. Just a wild crazy idea - copyrighted, mind - but worth considering.