Muck and Mystery
   Loitering With Intent
blog - at - crumbtrail.org
March 11, 2009
Dimmer Switch

One of the flaws in some geoengineering ideas to limit the effects of GHGs is that they work by reducing solar radiation that reaches the earth.

Among the ideas being explored is injecting small particles into the upper atmosphere to produce a climate cooling similar to that of large volcanic eruptions, such as Mt. Pinatubo's in 1991. Airborne sulfur hovering in the stratosphere cooled the Earth for about two years following that eruption.

Murphy found that particles in the stratosphere reduce the amount and change the nature of the sunlight that strikes the Earth. Though a fraction of the incoming sunlight bounces back to space (the cooling effect), a much larger amount becomes "diffuse" or scattered light.

On average, for every watt of sunlight the particles reflect away from the Earth, another three watts of direct sunlight are converted to diffuse sunlight. Large power-generating solar plants that concentrate sunlight for maximum efficiency depend solely on direct sunlight and cannot use diffuse light.

Murphy verified his calculations using long-term NOAA observations of direct and diffuse sunlight before and after the 1991 eruption.

After the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, peak power output of Solar Electric Generating Stations in California, the largest collective of solar power plants in the world, fell by up to 20 percent, even though the stratospheric particles from the eruption reduced total sunlight that year by less than 3 percent.

I'm not sure if diffuse light reduces plant growth as much as it does solar power systems, but that may be a consideration too.
Posted by back40 at 08:28 AM | Energy

TrackBack URL for Dimmer Switch -


Comments
Post a comment









Remember personal info?