The Sun in Spain Shines Mainly in the Day

1. Spain has invested vast amounts of money in green energy projects.
2. Spain's climate is conducive to solar power projects, but solar plants have trouble generating power at night.
3. I a scene reminiscent of Ringworld,Torresol has erected a concentrator in the midst of a vast sea of collectors which use the solar radiation to melt sodium.
4. Molten sodium is then used as a storage medium for the heat, generating power by running steam turbines with that canned heat.

This is a fairly clever method for getting around two of the inherent difficulties of dependable solar power - clouds, and the Earth itself (it gets in the way at night, you see).
It remains to be seen how well this really works, both in delivery of a consistent stream of power, and in its economic viability - especially without vast governmental subsidies.

The other question is whether this nearly 500 acres of land could be more profitably used in some other activity, but from a technical standpoint, this is an impressive start.


Posted by Procrustes 17

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Arctic Ozone Depletion

Arctic Ozone Depletion

1. There are reports that a large hole in the Arctic Ozone layer has formed this year.
2. The Ozone layer protects us from radiation - especially solar ultraviolet, but also from some cosmic radiation.
3. The Ozone is formed by the radiation itself acting upon the atmosphere's oxygen, changing it from the normal O2 version to Ozone's O3 arrangement.

Amidst the alarming stories of widespread exposure to high levels of UV radiation due to this event, the reporting does say that an unusual set of circumstances conspired to create conditions where Chlorine-based compounds have been able to deplete the Ozone. Along with that analysis tends to be the alarmist cry that this might become an annual event.
Somehow the editors (?) of these reports can't see that if events occur annually, they don't really qualify to be called unusual circumstances.
It seems they can't see that the general rule would be that if there's not enough ozone, that's because there's not enough radiation to form it. Of course, admitting that would mean admitting that the sun is cooling - or at least we're receiving less radiation from it - and that we're headed for another Ice Age.

Posted by Procrustes 17

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