Depends on what you use the electricity for. If you use it to transmit, say, radio signals then maybe they radiate off into space instead of heating the atmosphere. But yes, I was being a wise-ass.
Really my point was that claiming solar energy can solve the energy needs of the world's population, based solely on the amount of energy the earth actually gets from the sun, is quite preposterous. We can't harness all of it and even harnessing 1% of it would probably have a major environmental impact, changing the heat distribution of the earth's surface.
For those who didn't RTFA, the article is not about making "piracy" a criminal offense in the United States (it already is, according to the "FBI Warning" on all my DVD's), but about U.S. pressure to get China to start making/enforcing laws against distributing copyrighted/patented material.
The article makes no mention of the potential environmental effects of large-scale hydrogen production. To make hydrogen, you could use a nuclear reactor as suggested but that produces nuclear waste. You could invent some kind of biochemical method but that will probably require living cells and large quantities of clean water - which is also needed by growing human populations. The solar method is clean when working but the photochemical cells would probably be quite toxic.
I do not think the "hydrogen economy" will provide limitless clean energy without any environmental costs or risks.
The thing I like about travel is getting a taste of a different culture - calypso music, new kinds of frozen cocktails, ethnic food, historical sites. Whenever I go on a trip I always stop at a museum or two. Climate and scenery are not all there is to a vacation. So this is definitely not for me.
I think Wikipedia missed the mark in its open-collaboration model. For instance, Linux does not let just anybody modify the kernel code. Kernel patches have to go through maintainers who are experts in their field. If Wikipedia worked the same way, its credibility problems would go away. The trick would be in finding maintainers who really are competent and are willing to let people "patch" their articles.
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You now have 2.68 fewer microseconds each day to do whatever it is you do.
Good news for me - I'm on salary and my work day just got shorter! It's like a raise.
Depends on what you use the electricity for. If you use it to transmit, say, radio signals then maybe they radiate off into space instead of heating the atmosphere. But yes, I was being a wise-ass.
Really my point was that claiming solar energy can solve the energy needs of the world's population, based solely on the amount of energy the earth actually gets from the sun, is quite preposterous. We can't harness all of it and even harnessing 1% of it would probably have a major environmental impact, changing the heat distribution of the earth's surface.
Umm, yeah, except we're already using that to, you know, heat the planet's surface. So the oceans stay liquid. And stuff.
For those who didn't RTFA, the article is not about making "piracy" a criminal offense in the United States (it already is, according to the "FBI Warning" on all my DVD's), but about U.S. pressure to get China to start making/enforcing laws against distributing copyrighted/patented material.
The article makes no mention of the potential environmental effects of large-scale hydrogen production. To make hydrogen, you could use a nuclear reactor as suggested but that produces nuclear waste. You could invent some kind of biochemical method but that will probably require living cells and large quantities of clean water - which is also needed by growing human populations. The solar method is clean when working but the photochemical cells would probably be quite toxic.
I do not think the "hydrogen economy" will provide limitless clean energy without any environmental costs or risks.
Well said. I cried when I heard about the disaster and I'm not ashamed to admit it.
The thing I like about travel is getting a taste of a different culture - calypso music, new kinds of frozen cocktails, ethnic food, historical sites. Whenever I go on a trip I always stop at a museum or two. Climate and scenery are not all there is to a vacation. So this is definitely not for me.
I think Wikipedia missed the mark in its open-collaboration model. For instance, Linux does not let just anybody modify the kernel code. Kernel patches have to go through maintainers who are experts in their field. If Wikipedia worked the same way, its credibility problems would go away. The trick would be in finding maintainers who really are competent and are willing to let people "patch" their articles.