🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <11685@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> kring@washoe.Berkeley.EDU (Chuck Kring) writes:
>In article <8328@csli.STANFORD.EDU>, cphoenix@csli.STANFORD.EDU (Chris Phoenix) writes:
>> In article <1113@gvgpsa.GVG.TEK.COM> johna@gvgpsa.gvg.tek.com.GVG.TEK.COM (John Abt) writes:
>> 
>> Imagine how cheap it would be, with unlimited power, to turn large areas of
>> land into mirrors.  Just find any sandy area such as a desert, then melt it
>> smooth, then sputter on some shiny metal.
>
>Not to flame, but this is one of the stupidest ideas that I've read in this 
>group.

Skipping a bit...


>    2> If the greenhouse effect were a problem, then much of the reflected 
>       sunlight would get trapped on the way back up and end up warming the 
>       atmosphere anyway.
	
Not to flame :) , but this is not strictly true.  The greenhouse effect
requires sunlight to be absorbed by something, and the energy to be reemitted
in frequencies which are absorbed more efficiently by the atmosphere.  A
mirror, or a region with a high albedo (such as a snow-field) reflects sunlight
rather than absorbing/reemitting it.  This can have a net cooling effect,
and there is speculation that this is one mechanism which maintains the
cool temperatures in an ice age.



	--MYC