Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Experts Say Houston Dome May Help Environment [and also boost revenue for Vector Foil Company]
Houston is in peril. The country's fourth most populous city faces heat, hurricanes and other natural disasters. Houston has always been vulnerable to hurricanes and severe weather.
...
This is why some scientists think the only way to save the city is to move it indoors, in other words to build a huge dome for Houston. Houston dome area will stretch over 21 Million square feet, making it the biggest structure with the largest roof in the world.

Houston Dome's broadest panels will be 15 feet across. It will take 147,000 panels to cover the city of Houston. Glass will not work for Houston Dome. It will be so heavy that it can't hold. Houston Dome will require a much lighter material. It may come from the German city of Bremen, from a factory of Vector Foil Company.

Vector Foiltec invented the use of Texlon® ETFE, the climatic envelope, over twenty five years ago and has successfully developed and promoted the use of this innovative technology worldwide. This is light polymer and is the future of glass.

This material, called ETFE is the only material that will make a fuller city-size dome possible, even for a city like Houston. At just one percent of glass, ETFE is described as 99 percent nothing. Without ETF the Houston dome can never become reality. It is so light that 99 percent lighter than glass is tremendous change.
Is ‘Shading’ the Earth a Possible Climate Change Solution?
We all know that climate change is one of the most serious environmental issues we face today. The question is what we should do about it, and there are several options on the table. One of them is the admittedly radical idea of “shading” the earth, which is a process by which scientists would engineer our climate by scattering dust particles into the stratosphere.

This idea would theoretically cool the earth by replicating the result of a volcanic eruption. All the dust particles gathered in the stratosphere would reflect sunlight back into space, therefore dropping the planet’s temperature.

Obviously there are many things to consider before scientists would even think about trying this — for example, how would it affect plant life? Would a worldwide famine ensue? How would it affect rainfall? When would we even start the process? What would these particles do to our ozone layer?
Tambora: Information from Answers.com
Tambora (täm'bərə) , active volcano, N Sumbawa, Nusa Tenggara Barat prov., Indonesia, rising to 9,255 ft (2,821 m). The volcano's 1815 eruption was Indonesia's biggest and one of the world's most destructive in historical times, killing an estimated 50,000–90,000 people, destroying the kingdoms of Tambora and Papegat, and causing crop failures on neighboring Bali and Lambok. Lingering clouds of ash led to global cooling and created “the year without a summer” in many areas throughout the world, including the United States.
More about the "year without a summer"
First, 1816 marked the midpoint of one of the Sun’s extended periods of low magnetic activity, called the Dalton Minimum.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That "Houston needs a dome" article is hilarious. I live in Houston. We are not in any danger of being wiped off the map by hurricanes or heat waves or anything else. We're rebuilding from Ike. The structures that were completely destroyed have been, or will be rebuilt, but better. Those of us who received minor damage have also repaired it and made it better. Everyone I know that got a new roof, including myself, got a better one that was rated for higher winds.

The same thing happened after Tropical Storm Alison. Since then we've improved drainage and flood control systems in many parts of the city and continue to do so in others.

Heat is something we are used to dealing with here in Houston. The past few weeks, we've had a high pressure system parked over us that's making it a little hotter than normal. But the streets aren't filled with riots and dead bodies. In fact, everything is pretty normal.

Anonymous said...

A dome around Houston? You mean, like in the Simpsons' movie??

papertiger said...

A hurricane proof dome, that would cut down on the breezes.
Hope you get an industrial strength ventilation system with that.