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Zapping Contrails With Microwave Emitters

Posted by timothy on from the set-it-for-beverage dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Dissipation of contrails with a powerful microwave beam aligned behind aircraft engines is being touted as a possible solution to help address air transport's effects on the climate. 'The remote heating of condensation nuclei could be achieved by applying electromagnetic radiation, such as microwaves,' says Cranfield University's Frank Noppel. 'Depending on assumptions made, calculation shows that the power required for such a device could be as little as 0.1% of the engine power.'"

3 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I'm confused by Ironsides · · Score: 3, Funny

    Don't forget the extra fuel to carry the extra fuel.

    --
    Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
  2. Re:I'm confused by Red+Flayer · · Score: 3, Funny

    The extra fuel recursion gets to be insignificant pretty quickly...

    My concern is the extra fuel necessary to carry all the smugness from the environmental lipservice of the passengers flying in the brand new iPriusplane.

    --
    "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
  3. Re:I'm confused by neomunk · · Score: 4, Funny

    Zapping them so that they no longer effect us? Pssh, my source says that the microwaves are needed to ACTIVATE the next generation of chemically generated complacency.

    Then again, the same guy swore Ron Paul was going to win the popular vote...