h a l f b a k e r yRenovating the wheel
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One untapped resource of arctic regions is cold air. There is plenty of it, more than we could ever use. Nobody owns it, and you don’t have to mine it. Just take it. Enormous ductworks are constructed to connect northern Alaska with southern California. Blowers send cold, clean arctic air down to Los
Angeles all summer. It pays for itself in five years with reduced air conditioning usage.
Also eliminates temperature inversions and smog.
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I like this because it implies the existence of a planetary scale roll of duct tape. |
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Will there be proportionately-scaled spiders living in it ? That would be neat ... |
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Too cold for spiders. There is a veritable plague of homesick penguins though. |
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Ah, but [2 fries], penguins are from the Antartic, not the Artic. However, polar bears could make a good living in Hollywood. |
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If the ducts go south in the summer, do they go north in the winter? |
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We have one. It supplies warm weather to Europe. It's called the Gulf-stream. I understand it's been installed for some time now. |
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Polar bears, yeah tha- that's what I meant. Yeah Polar bears, that's the ticket. |
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<alarm>There are giant flies?</alarm> |
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Of course there are giant flies. What do you think the giant spiders feed on ? (Other than Arachnophobes, who are too paralysed with terror to run away). |
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// you'll alter the weather, change the ecology of the planet, and destroy several endangered species//
[ravenswood] Then that would be a perfect job for the US Army Corps. of Engineers. |
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//The liquid found in air conditioners should work// Yeah, gigatons of compressed freon. <sarcasm>That's just what our world needs.</sarcasm> Really there's no reason to use freon - the property we would be interested in is thermal mass. What is much more dense than air and redily available? Sea water. Build a giant pipeline of icewater to L.A. and insulate the hell out of it. Then create a network of cold water pipelines - similar to steam tunnels - and connect them to everyone's A/C unit. We wouldn't even have to build a loop - just pour the warm water at the end of the process down the drain. This is only, of course, if you have a few hundred billion dollars burning a hole in your pocket. |
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Just realized how cool it is that I'm helping design a planetary scale A/C system. [Worldgineer] |
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//how cool it is that I'm helping design a planetary scale A/C system//
[Worldgineer] And it's only your third day at work! But I like your can-do attitude. How much is the bakery paying you? Whatever, I'll double it.
Next, using your fluid concept, I plan to stop the gulf-stream at Maine and turn that state into a tropical paradise. You can work on that. I'll handle any flak from the English.
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[pluter] Well if your neighbors in Boston can engineer the big dig, surely Mainens (Maineens? Mainase?) can warm up their little state. Perhaps us Californians can, instead of dumping our used, warm sea water down the drain can pump it your way. You can use no insulation through Arizona to let it warm up further, maybe run it far underground for some geothermal action, insulate it, and run it over to your state. You can hook it up to heat pumps to heat all of your homes, and maybe even grow a palm tree or two. Then, if nobody else needs our well-used sea water you can dump it down your drain. |
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BTW: I meant I thought it was cool because of my name. |
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//BTW: I meant I thought it was cool because of my name.//
Worldgineer, that's really your name? Well, never mind how you got the job. You are now the newest employee of Boondoggle Corp! |
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//I'll handle any flak from the English.// And the Scots. I demand the return of my preciousss Gulf Stream. If I wanted to live in a frozen wasteland, I'd move to Aberdeen. |
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Throw in a high-speed fiber-optic cable running along the pipe, and the polar bears will be able to surf with no waiting. Hey, I've seen startup telecoms with worse business plans. |
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Also good for express mail delivery between California and Greenland. |
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[my face your] No more free lunch for the Brits, or Scots -- or Irish for that matter. Sorry, but the US now claims any body of water with the name Gulf on it. You might want to buy property in soon-to-be-toasty Maine now, before the glaciers get you. You can still get a spot adjoining Tony Blair's, I think. |
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//Worldgineer, that's really your name?//[pluter] |
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It's Worldgineer Helpspluterdaycoolyuppies III, but my friends call me worldy. |
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If you want cold water you do not have to go to the artic. Just go down under the sea a few hundred feet. Its like 4C down there. In fact this is artic water, nature has already moved it for us.
But the real question is cost. Which is cheaper; big pipes to move heat about, or solar cells and a heat pump? |
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Spending the day at the movies - definately cheaper than big pipes. |
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