# Sandia Lab Develops Device to Make Fuel from CO2



## PhantomPholly (Aug 20, 2008)

My concern about ALL "solar" solutions is, what effect on net solar gain will there be if we mass-produce solar-sucking devices? Could it cause massive cooling and create another ice-age?

I really like the nanoantennas that show the promise of passively converting type "x" energy into type "y" energy (light to heat; heat to electricity; radio waves to light; etc.). On a massive scale we might then be able to actively regulate the earth's temperature and eliminate worries about "thermal runaway" in either direction.


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## Jan (Oct 5, 2009)

PhantomPholly said:


> My concern about ALL "solar" solutions is, what effect on net solar gain will there be if we mass-produce solar-sucking devices? Could it cause massive cooling and create another ice-age?
> 
> I really like the nanoantennas that show the promise of passively converting type "x" energy into type "y" energy (light to heat; heat to electricity; radio waves to light; etc.). On a massive scale we might then be able to actively regulate the earth's temperature and eliminate worries about "thermal runaway" in either direction.


Every form of energy finaly ends in heath. So there will be no cooling off. Maybe solar plants reflect less solar energy than soil or whatever was there before. Then there is a threath of Global Warming.... But I sill believe thats far beter than yet another ice age.


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## david85 (Nov 12, 2007)

If we are considering photovoltaics then those would probably cause localized heating because they are dark colored and do not make use of the IR radiation from the sun, so they simply get hot and radiat that heat around them.


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## PhantomPholly (Aug 20, 2008)

Jan said:


> Every form of energy finaly ends in heath. So there will be no cooling off. Maybe solar plants reflect less solar energy than soil or whatever was there before. Then there is a threath of Global Warming.... But I sill believe thats far beter than yet another ice age.


According to the articles about nanoantennas, ultimately we will be able to convert any type of energy into any other with about 90% efficiency. So, while in the natural world that statement would be true, in the near future we will be able to "cheat" that effect.

Converting 90% of infrared energy into electricity will still result in some heat when the electricity is used, but if it is used to power LEDs then 90% of that energy will be emitted as visible light and dissipate without re-heating the environment.

Turning it around, we could just as easily convert visible light, X-Rays, radio waves, etc. into heat.

This is HUGE...


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## Jan (Oct 5, 2009)

PhantomPholly said:


> This is HUGE...


That's true.

I don't want to be nit picking. Well, that's not true, I do want to. But still with 90% efficient energy conversions, it still ends up in heath. And only light that's emmited outside on a clear starry night is for a very low percentage radiated out of our biospeher.


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## PhantomPholly (Aug 20, 2008)

Jan said:


> That's true.
> 
> I don't want to be nit picking. Well, that's not true, I do want to. But still with 90% efficient energy conversions, it still ends up in heath. And only light that's emmited outside on a clear starry night is for a very low percentage radiated out of our biospeher.


Pick away. 

You've used the word "heath" twice - is that your fingers stumbling because "h" usually comes after "t," or is there a scientific word "heath" having a different meaning than plain old heat, perhaps having to do with heat transfer? Not my field of specialty, so if you're using technical terms it is lost on me.

Anyway, although all energy will some day end up as heat, imagine if you will converting 90% of the infrared energy from the Gobi desert into electricity, and then converting it to focused microwaves beamed into space. 90% of THAT will escape our atmosphere - REMOVING the heat from earth's biosphere. It's like air conditioning - it doesn't "create cold," it just moves heat out of your house.

To reverse the process, absorb all incoming non-heat energy and convert to infrared.

This truly will mean we can simply "flip a switch" and change the temperature of the earth. Moreover, we may also be able to move heat around the earth to make places more hospitable - pumping desert heat up to Canada, etc.

This is HUGE!


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## david85 (Nov 12, 2007)

PhantomPholly said:


> - pumping desert heat up to Canada, etc.
> 
> This is HUGE!


 
Wait, you'll what???


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## Jan (Oct 5, 2009)

PhantomPholly said:


> P
> "heath"


Just bad in english. I would like to see you write in dutch. 



> This is HUGE!


Yes. Yes. That is hugh. No argument there.


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## PhantomPholly (Aug 20, 2008)

Jan said:


> Just bad in english. I would like to see you write in dutch.


Godin Dagin! (Icelandic, as close as I get to Dutch) Just making sure you weren't explaining something technical I didn't understand.



> Yes. Yes. That is hugh. No argument there.


As I recall, Denmark could stand a little warming up, too!


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## PhantomPholly (Aug 20, 2008)

david85 said:


> Wait, you'll what???


....moose bites can be pretty serious, you know.

Wait, wrong movie....


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