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This is a survey of some thought-provoking macro-engineering project ideas. They involve geographically large-scale changes to the Earth’s surface or energy balance. A subjective assessment of the theoretical progress accomplished in Macro-engineering is given and suggestions are offered as to where the most fruitful avenues of modern macro-project investigation may lie during the early 21st Century for this class of projects

Apart from saving energy, sequestration of CO is the most direct way of combating the excessive greenhouse effect. Current approaches focus mainly on CO storage in gaseous form in abandoned gas fields or aquifers. Sequestration in mineral form is still in its infancy, because the dry carbonation of common Mg- or Ca-silicates is unsuccessful. It can be deduced from natural examples that wet sequestration, combining hydration and carbonation is likely to be more successful. Several approaches are explored in this paper, either in dunite massifs (olivine-rich rocks), or by reacting crushed olivine off-site in contained spaces with the off gases of thermal plants. The reaction produces a large amount of heat, which can be recovered as high enthalpy steam. In order to be effective, however, it should only be applied to large volumes of olivine, in a typical macro-engineering fashion, as the heat losses become unacceptably high in small systems with a high surface to volume ratio. One possibility would be to fill half of abandoned deep opencast mines with ground olivine and cover it by backfill. In the bottom part a mixture of hot CO and steam is injected in order to set up a convective system similar to geothermal systems

Solar energy is the most abundant source of energy for mankind. Concentrating solar power (CSP) will become just as cheap as electricity from coal fired power stations or nuclear power plants. Operation S(un) is the macro-engineering approach for the implementation of solar energy on the globe. After an investment of 6300 billion dollar (which is 15% of the global Gross Domestic Product of one year) the solar thermal power stations produce just as much electricity as the global electricity consumption in 2003. One half of the plants is located at the coasts and their waste heat is applied for the desalination of seawater. The production of these stations satisfies the global municipal consumption of fresh water

Major applications of macro-engineering are in the field of energy production. Wind energy, in the form of offshore wind farms is becoming a popular concept. Yet, some of the technical problems surrounding the maintenance and repair of wind turbines under harsh conditions make the economic feasibility of such wind farms doubtful. This is aggravated by the inherent weaknesses of large-scale energy production by wind, namely the unpredictability of the wind, and the low energy density of flowing air. Some possibilities to overcome some of these weaknesses are discussed in this paper, leading to the proposal to place the wind turbines on a ring dike. The enclosed basin has some potential for additional uses. Part of it can serve as a pump accumulator basin, where water is pumped in during periods of low power demand, when the power price is low, and passed through a turbine at periods of high demand, when the price is high

This chapter describes a macro-project to reduce hurricane intensity by cooling the tropical sea surface with cold water pumped up from the ocean bottom. The pumps are powered by heat engines that exploit the temperature difference between the surface and bottom water. If implemented in the Caribbean area, the cooler water carried northward by the Florida Current and Gulf Stream will reduce the loss of land-supported polar ice sheets. This will reduce the rate of sea level rise

It has been suggested that climate change induced by anthropogenic CO could be cost-effectively counteracted with macro-engineering schemes designed to diminish the solar radiation incident on Earth’s surface. It is clear that such schemes could counteract global and annual mean global warming. However, the spatial and temporal pattern of radiative forcing from greenhouse gases such as CO differs from that of sunlight, therefore it is uncertain to what extent these macro-engineering schemes would mitigate regional or seasonal climate change. The NCAR atmospheric general circulation model, CCM3, has been used to study this issue; in these simulations, the solar radiation incident on the Earth was diminished to balance the increased radiative forcing from a doubling and quadrupling of atmospheric CO content. The results indicate that, despite differences in radiative forcing patterns, large-scale macro-engineering schemes could markedly diminish regional and seasonal climate change from anthropogenic CO emissions. However, there are some residual climate changes in the Macro-engineered 4xCO climate: a significant decrease in surface temperature and net water flux occurs in the tropics; warming in the high latitudes is not completely compensated; the cooling effect of greenhouse gases in the stratosphere increases and sea ice is not fully restored. The stratospheric cooling becomes larger also in the Macro-engineered 2xCO climate, and the additional cooling due to macro-engineering could enhance stratospheric ozone depletion. The impact of these climate stabilization schemes on terrestrial biosphere is also investigated using the same climate model∈dex climate model. Results indicate that climate stabilization would tend to limit changes in vegetation distribution brought on by climate change∈dex climate change, but would not prevent CO-induced changes in Net Primary Productivity∈dex Net Primary Productivity (NPP) or biomass; indeed, if CO fertilization∈dex fertilization is an important factor, then a CO-rich world with compensating reductions in solar radiation could have higher net primary productivity than our current world. However, CO effects on ocean chemistry could have deleterious consequences for marine biota. Caution should be exercised in interpretation because these results are from a single model with many simplifying assumptions. The most prudent and least risky option to mitigate global warming may be to curtail emissions of greenhouse gases∈dex greenhouse gases. Nevertheless, studying macro-engineering will provide us the scientific basis to understand the possibility of rapidly counteracting catastrophic global warming without inadvertently creating a bigger problem

One day mankind may be capable of controlling the weather on a global scale. The key factor enabling control of the weather is that the atmosphere appears to be chaotic and chaos implies sensitivity to small perturbations. Extreme sensitivity to initial conditions suggests that small perturbations to the atmosphere may effectively control the evolution of the atmosphere if the atmosphere is observed and modeled sufficiently well. It is shown that four-dimensional variational analysis∈dex four-dimensional variational analysis (4d-VAR) is a data assimilation technique that has promise for calculating optimal perturbations for weather modification. Experiments described here demonstrate the ability of 4d-VAR to calculate perturbations to influence the evolution of a simulated tropical cyclone. In “damage cost function” experiments described here, 4d-VAR simultaneously minimizes the size of the initial perturbation and an estimate of property loss that depends on wind speed. In these experiments the hurricane surface winds decrease over the built-up area at landfall. It is as if the simulated hurricane "blinks its eye" at a precisely controlled time. The optimal perturbations usually include quasi-axisymmetric features centered on the hurricane. It appears that the perturbation evolves as a concentric wave disturbance that propagates to a focus at the hurricane center, and converts the kinetic energy of the hurricane into thermal potential energy at the appropriate time. The hurricane surface winds regenerate soon thereafter, so a continuous series of perturbations may be needed in practice. Experiments are described with different control vectors, including all prognostic variables, temperature only, and temperature only outside of the center core of the hurricane. The temperature only experiments suggest that precisely prescribed heating might serve to control hurricanes and other weather phenomena in the future. Microwave heating∈dex Microwave heating rate calculations are presented in support of the concept of dual use space solar power satellites for electric power and for weather control. These calculations show that by tuning within the 183 GHz water vapor absorption interval it would be possible to control the height of the maximum heating. The prototype experiments presented here suggest that global weather control will eventually become a reality especially since many of the supporting disciplines will naturally evolve at a rapid pace. The costs associated with recent damaging hurricanes should cause this pace to accelerate. It is plausible that two generations from now controlling the global weather may be within the capabilities and resources of several nations or groups of nations. In the future, NASA’s mission may explicitly include mention of research to control the weather for the benefit of mankind

The author proposes two new revolutionary macro-engineering projects: inflatable pneumatic high altitude towers (height up to 100 km) and kinetic cable space towers (height up 160,000 km). The second method allows building of space elevator without rocket flights to space. Related to the first macro-project, the author provides theory and computations for building inflatable space towers. These macro-projects are not expensive and do not require rockets. They require thin strong films composed of artificial fibers and fabricated by current industry. They can be built using present technology. Towers can be used (for tourism, communication, etc.) during the construction process and provide self-financing for further construction. The tower design does not require outdoor work at high altitudes; all construction can be done at the Earth’s surface. The transport system for a tower consists of a small engine (used only for friction compensation) located at the Earth’s surface. The tower is separated into sections and has special protection mechanisms in case of damage. Related to the second macro-project, the author discusses a revolutionary new method to access outer space. A cable stands up vertically and pulls up its payload into space with a maximum force determined by its strength. From the ground the cable is allowed to rise up to the required altitude. After this, one can climb to any altitude using this cable or deliver a payload at altitude. The author shows how this is possible without infringing the law of gravity. The Section 2 contains the theory and computations for four macro-projects (towers that are 4, 75, 225 and 160,000 km in height, respectively). The first three macro-projects use the conventional artificial fiber produced by current industry, while the fourth project requires nanotubes currently made in scientific laboratories. The chapter also shows in a fifth macro-project how this idea can be used to launch a load at high altitude

We consider some of the implications of the radical macro-engineering efforts in medium-to-long-term future of humanity. In addition to a particular macro-project of Earth, the ‘‘Air Bag’’ Shell based, in part, on the inspiration drawn from Yves Klein’s austere visionary ‘‘Architecture of the Air’’, we discuss some ramifications of such a wraparound effect endeavor for humanity’s prospects and its cultural outlook, including studio and outdoor art forms. Essentially, we propose an inflated building macro-project to protect Earth from some threats (small asteroids, solar flares, molecular clouds in space) posed by its unaltered trajectory through interplanetary and interstellar space. This ‘‘shell-forming’’ can also be applied to other planets and smaller solid bodies, and can be understood as a generalization of the conventional terraforming. Applied to our planet, it would be a traveling ‘‘hibernaculum’’ for humans in which weather, local time is unimportant and humankind encumbers the Earth with a light touch

This Chapter proposes two new revolutionary ideas: (1) Simple cable anti-gravitator and (2) Electrostatic levitation and artificial gravity. Cable anti-gravitator provides a repel (opposed to gravity) force between two bodies by a rotational closed-loop cable. Electrostatic levitation allows people, cars, and tracks to fly over the Earth’s surface. Artificial gravity allows astronauts to work near space ship without leash. Multiple related macro-engineering projects are herein proposed. These macro-projects are: High Tower; Space Elevator; Non-Rocket start from satellites and asteroids; Levitation Highway; Levitation Region in City; Vertical Takeoff and Landing aircraft; Flying, Walking, and Jumping man and High Altitude Crane