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One engineers perspective on global warming
A little blown away by the arrogance of that statement. As if someone can't objectively look at the evidence and reach an independent conclusion that also happens to be generally consistent with the scientific consensus?- dawei87
- Post #14
- Forum: Where is Engineering Going In The Next 5 Years
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One engineers perspective on global warming
Why did you include a link to the 'hockey stick' when you were referring to a positive feedback that 'will' happen? The hockey stick portrays past temperature change, not what is predicted to occur in the future. Why didn't you link to a model-based temperature projection into the year 2100, of...- dawei87
- Post #5
- Forum: Where is Engineering Going In The Next 5 Years
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(can of worms alert) Globe hasn't warmed in the last 16 years
If it only moved heat around laterally across the surface then you wouldn't expect a change in global average tempreature. But since ENSO also affects vertical ocean currents, which can temporarily alter total heat content within that sliver of area called the 'surface' (where global average...- dawei87
- Post #82
- Forum: Where is Engineering Going In The Next 5 Years
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(can of worms alert) Globe hasn't warmed in the last 16 years
Not to mention the actual temperature of Venus...- dawei87
- Post #48
- Forum: Where is Engineering Going In The Next 5 Years
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(can of worms alert) Globe hasn't warmed in the last 16 years
And I don't see how your observations about a physical glass greenhouse have anything to do with a greenhouse gas...unless you're just confused by the fact that they happen to share a name.- dawei87
- Post #44
- Forum: Where is Engineering Going In The Next 5 Years
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(can of worms alert) Globe hasn't warmed in the last 16 years
The guy in the balloon was over 120,000 feet high -- well above the tropopause where temperatures stop falling and begin to start rising as you continue to get higher into the atmosphere. That effect is in no way inconsistent with the greenhouse effect. There is plenty of experimental proof...- dawei87
- Post #43
- Forum: Where is Engineering Going In The Next 5 Years
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(can of worms alert) Globe hasn't warmed in the last 16 years
Option 42 there is a group of school children from an ultraadvanced alien race in a faraway solar system that amuse themselves by projecting a hyperconcentrated micrwoave beam onto our planet like a magnifying glass over an ant hill.- dawei87
- Post #15
- Forum: Where is Engineering Going In The Next 5 Years
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Let's burn more sunshine
Exactly. For some reason with CFLs, people mysteriously forget that cost usually correlates pretty well to quality. They buy the cheapest brand of CFL they see, then when it doesn't work well criticize the entire technology, instead of just that brand. Pay the extra 50 cents for a quality...- dawei87
- Post #41
- Forum: Where is Engineering Going In The Next 5 Years
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Educated Opinions on Climate change - a denouement or a hoax? Part 2.0
Usually true. Except, we were talking about government :) They do this anyway as people's use of electricity changes, for varying reasons and frequencies. If they can accept the challenges of uncertain demand, I see no reason they cannot also learn to accept the challenges of uncertain supply...- dawei87
- Post #228
- Forum: Where is Engineering Going In The Next 5 Years
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Educated Opinions on Climate change - a denouement or a hoax? Part 2.0
30 makes you feel great if they're taken within the right time frame. 1 hour is bad, 10 years is pointless...but 3-4 days, and you've got a nice little weekend. Shouldn't it be the same for energy solutions? Too slow and they don't make a respectable impact, too fast and you waste money trying...- dawei87
- Post #223
- Forum: Where is Engineering Going In The Next 5 Years
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Educated Opinions on Climate change - a denouement or a hoax? Part 2.0
Efficiency is definitely the best bang for the buck. It's proven, quick, easy, and can result in huge gains. However, it also happens to be very boring. I’m reminded of scenes of people laughing and handing out mock tire pressure gauges amid chants of 'drill baby drill'. Building a giant dam, or...- dawei87
- Post #221
- Forum: Where is Engineering Going In The Next 5 Years
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Educated Opinions on Climate change - a denouement or a hoax? Part 2.0
Researching better storage methods is a terrific use of money, regardless of its source. But I wouldn't say that expanding production of wind turbines is a "waste". They supplement existing generation facilities, and give private investors more confidence for risking their money on related...- dawei87
- Post #214
- Forum: Where is Engineering Going In The Next 5 Years
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Educated Opinions on Climate change - a denouement or a hoax? Part 2.0
If the challenge of efficient storage could be worked out, then even an intermitent source could provide 100% of a community's electricity needs.- dawei87
- Post #212
- Forum: Where is Engineering Going In The Next 5 Years
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Educated Opinions on Climate change - a denouement or a hoax? Part 2.0
And it *COULD* be fairy dust from Europa or the reflection from a thousand orbiting teapots. To demand that every creative idea be ruled out before an already strongly supported hypothesis be accepted is a fantastically convenient way to delay action until never, because the wonder of human...- dawei87
- Post #183
- Forum: Where is Engineering Going In The Next 5 Years
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Educated Opinions on Climate change - a denouement or a hoax? Part 2.0
...that OF COURSE it feels cooler under a tree compared to an open crop. I already said that many times. That doesn't mean that it makes the entire *atmosphere* hotter. If I stand on a hot asphalt parking lot in the sun I am hotter than if I stand under the shade of a hot asphalt roof. The...- dawei87
- Post #177
- Forum: Where is Engineering Going In The Next 5 Years
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Educated Opinions on Climate change - a denouement or a hoax? Part 2.0
...I do not wish it away, I add it to the entire pot of anthropogenic albedo modification and get a net negative number. So too, for that matter, has *every* peer-reviewed study of surface anthropogenic albedo change. Not to mention that the urban numbers were extremely conservative, and also...- dawei87
- Post #171
- Forum: Where is Engineering Going In The Next 5 Years
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Educated Opinions on Climate change - a denouement or a hoax? Part 2.0
...and sigma is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant. The Earth’s current albedo is approximately 0.30. The solar constant is 1370 W/m^2 and sigma is 5.67*10^-8. Plugging that in, we get an effective temperature of 255.0 K. Lower than reality, but we are of course ignoring the greenhouse effect so...- dawei87
- Post #153
- Forum: Where is Engineering Going In The Next 5 Years
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Educated Opinions on Climate change - a denouement or a hoax? Part 2.0
...Watts and his ilk frequently claim that urban stations are biasing the overall temperature record. It doesn’t make any sense at all to claim that *all* stations are showing a bias regardless of their proximity to urban sources. NO ONE, not even skeptics, make the argument that the waste heat...- dawei87
- Post #151
- Forum: Where is Engineering Going In The Next 5 Years
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Educated Opinions on Climate change - a denouement or a hoax? Part 2.0
The vast majority turns into heat. My point was that anthropogenic activities in the form of deforestation effect a negative radiative forcing. If you are trying to emphasize that some of the radiative energy gets used for photosynthesis, then the greater efficiency of crop plants compared to...- dawei87
- Post #142
- Forum: Where is Engineering Going In The Next 5 Years
