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Energy-Beaming Space Collector To Also Alter Weather?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the don't-microwave-me-bro dept.

Recently we covered California utility company PG&E's ambitious deal with upstart Solaren to beam energy to earth from a space-based solar collector. What we didn't know is Solaren's patent also covers the alteration of weather elements with that very same system. "By heating up the upper and middle levels of an infant hurricane, they say they could disrupt the flows of air that power the enormous storms. Air warmed by tropical waters flows up through a hurricane and is vented through the eye into the upper atmosphere. Theoretically, you could heat up the top of the storm and lower the pressure differential between layers, resulting in a weaker storm. "

13 of 274 comments (clear)

  1. So.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We might be giving a company the power to change our weather? Not sure how I feel about this..

    1. Re:So.. by sudotron · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You think that's bad? Just wait until the government introduces a new "hurricane prevention excise tax".

    2. Re:So.. by eleuthero · · Score: 2, Insightful

      ...except they will probably get one of their pet congressmen to write up a bill that 1) creates an excise tax and 2) gives the power company in question a hefty tax cut. In this way, they get the money and get to blame the government for it.

  2. Lots o' power by NormalVisual · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's gonna need to be an *awfully* big collector to harvest enough energy to make the slightest difference to a hurricane...

    --
    Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
    1. Re:Lots o' power by Shivani1141 · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Not to mention the fact that we obviously perfectly understand the power and role of a hurricane in terms of global weather patterns...

      Am I the only one concerned what might happen to other weather systems if we suddenly start damping hurricanes? the energy to form a hurricane comes from somewhere, if we're adding more to kill a hurricane, where is this new net total going to express itself?

    2. Re:Lots o' power by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Probably the same as a 'no burn' policy put in place in most forests a century ago. Eventually the dry stuff builds up to the point where when it does catch fire, you're fucked.

      Imagine a hurricane formed with the energy from 5-10 damped out storms.

    3. Re:Lots o' power by chris+mazuc · · Score: 4, Insightful
      From the National Hurricane Center:

      The main difficulty with using explosives to modify hurricanes is the amount of energy required. A fully developed hurricane can release heat energy at a rate of 5 to 20x10^13 watts and converts less than 10% of the heat into the mechanical energy of the wind. The heat release is equivalent to a 10-megaton nuclear bomb exploding every 20 minutes. According to the 1993 World Almanac, the entire human race used energy at a rate of 10^13 watts in 1990, a rate less than 20% of the power of a hurricane.

      --
      E pluribus unum
    4. Re:Lots o' power by kabocox · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Probably the same as a 'no burn' policy put in place in most forests a century ago. Eventually the dry stuff builds up to the point where when it does catch fire, you're fucked.

      Imagine a hurricane formed with the energy from 5-10 damped out storms.

      Oh, you are underestimating things. Imagine it "working" for 5-10 years or decades and then all the sudden new hurricanes are 50-100 times more powerful for a few years.

  3. Re:So..[.] by kandela · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yeah, because co-operatively we are doing a great job of maintaining and looking after the current weather patterns.

    --
    Conservation of angular momentum makes the world go round.
  4. whatcouldpossiblygowrong by Reality+Master+201 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If ever a story deserved that tag, this is it.

  5. Airplanes? by flattop100 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm guessing it would be disastrous for an airplane to fly in the "beam", no?

  6. Re:Real genius at work. by Drathos · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Making enormous swiss cheese?

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    End of line..
  7. Re:Required energy? by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How much energy do you think it would take to have any sort of meaningful effect on a hurricane we're actually worried about?

    What happened to chaos theory? Small changes leading to major effects? Personally I think the butterfly flapping it's wings is the idea taken to a ludicrous extreme, but it must kick in at some level. I imagine as well that it's easier to disrupt a storm's organization than to enhance it.

    I'm more concerned about the possible corruption of this technology... Real Genius^10.

    Yes, because we should all base our science policy ideas on Val Kilmer comedies. Any lines you want to quote from Top Secret or Top Gun to further support your argument?

    What? Top Gun wasn't a comedy? Really?! Huh.

    what's to stop it from being used to vaporize human targets or entire CITIES from space.

    Reality and the laws of physics?

    Seriously, what's with all the BS scare tactic posts? When did Slashdot become home of the hyperventilating Luddites?