[ExI] cure for global warming

[Keith Henson]

On Wed, Dec 29, 2010 at 5:00 AM,  John Clark <jonkc at bellsouth.net> wrote:

>
> On Dec 28, 2010, at 11:45 PM, Keith Henson wrote:
>
>> You don't seem to understand the point of engineering a standard
>> design.  Once you do it, it's possible to turn out millions of copies.
>
> If you intend to make millions of something then you need to take time to ensure that your design is as efficient and economical as you can make it, but if you only intend to make one then you can afford to be much more extravagant and say to hell with the cost.

You can't avoid the physics.  For example, the pumps take around 1
kW/100 feet, or 53 kW/mile, ~1 MW for the whole string.

If the power went up at 1000 volts, it would take 1000 amps.  The wire
near the base is going to mass more than the pumps, but it does taper
as you go up.

> And its cheap right now to send a balloon tethered to the earth carrying broadcast equipment to a height of 5 miles, so it does not seem to me that it would be financially impossible for the world to pay to build something extending that altitude to 18 miles carrying a different payload if doing so would save the planet.

It all depends on the wind.  Spherical balloons have way too much
drag.  Aerodynamically shaped ones tend to be too heavy unless of
heroic scale.

When you actually get into the details and try to make them survive in
the worst case wind it's really complicated.

I take it that you don't do engineering as a job.

Keith