Topic
Macro-engineering
About: Macro-engineering is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 12 publications have been published within this topic receiving 31 citations.
Papers
1 Jan 2006
TL;DR: In this paper, a simple climate model is used to assess the possibility of engineering the Earth's climate (geo-engineering) using large orbiting reflectors, and two particular cases are considered: active cooling of the climate to mitigate against anthropogenic climate change due to a doubling of the carbon dioxide concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere and active heating of theclimate to mitigate the advance of the polar ice sheets of a magnitude comparable to that induced by the Milankovitch cycles.
Abstract: The prospect of engineering a planetary climate raises a multitude of issues associated with climatology, engineering on truly macroscopic scales and indeed the ethics of such ventures. Depending on personal views, such large-scale engineering is either an obvious necessity for the deep future, or yet another example of human conceit. In this chapter a simple climate model will be used to assess the possibility of engineering the Earth’s climate (geo-engineering) using large orbiting reflectors. Two particular cases will be considered: active cooling of the climate to mitigate against anthropogenic climate change due to a doubling of the carbon dioxide concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere and active heating of the climate to mitigate against an advance of the polar ice sheets of a magnitude comparable to that induced by the Milankovitch cycles. These two cases will be used as representative scenarios to allow the scale of the engineering challenge to be determined. In addition, even more visionary applications of solar reflectors to slowly manipulate the Earth’s orbit will be investigated. While, engineering on such scales appears formidable at present, emerging capabilities to process lunar and asteroid material will allow such ventures to be considered in the future. This chapter aims to provide a foretaste of such future possibilities
14 citations
1 Jan 2011
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the dilemma between economic and environmental concerns is successfully hidden in the discourse of ecological modernization, and they pose the question if the megaengineering projects really can be seen as part of a global sustainable development.
Abstract: The paper deals with recent spectacular megaengineering projects in the United Arab Emirates: skyscrapers, ecological desert cities, winter sport facilities, artificial islands, large scale landscaping and greening projects. These megaprojects are presented as environment friendly in the public discourse, while the paper analyzes and criticizes these projects from an ecological point of view. The paper argues that the dilemma between economic and environmental concerns is successfully hidden in the discourse of ecological modernization. By providing examples from the Emirati context, the paper poses the question if the megaengineering projects really can be seen as part of a global sustainable development.
6 citations
TL;DR: The Water-Solar Oasis concept is proposed in this paper, which is an acronymn for W ater resources, E conomy/energy/engineering, A griculture/aquaculture, L and/light-solar radiation, T echnology/transportation, and H ealth/human care/housing.
4 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the development of a macro-engineering diplomacy is proposed as a fundamental framework for solving global environmental problems, which might result in avoiding wasted efforts at national and regional levels.
4 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2011 | 1 |
| 2008 | 1 |
| 2006 | 1 |
| 2004 | 1 |
| 1998 | 1 |
| 1994 | 1 |