Well, back last June in the thread Odd science (chemistry?) question I discovered the potential profitability of scrubbing CO2 out of the air. At least until you flood the market with so many diamonds that even a certain wealthy and powerful cartel can't market their way out of the price crashing.
Actually, now I'm wondering if so many wacky things being managed with handwavium might not result in some real life hard-tech ideas getting funding. Such as Melvin Prueitt's smog scrubbing towers, basically hollow towers with open tops that have mist sprayers (which, important step, also applies a charge to the mist). The sprayed water cools the air causing it to sink. The sinking air spins turbines to generate power to help run the pumping system that feeds the misters. At the bottom you use an opposite charge to attract the droplets of water and feed them into a filtering system that extracts some of the pollution that the droplets will have picked up. Then take that water and feed it back into the misters. Prueitt figured it could scrub LA's air without noticeable aesthetic damage to the cities skyline. That seems a bit optimistic considering he also figured it would take about 190 towers each about 650 feet tall. I think even in a city the size of LA that would be noticeable. That said we're still talking about a system to clean the air without the use of the handwavium that would set off politicians and NIMBYers.
-----
Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.
Actually, now I'm wondering if so many wacky things being managed with handwavium might not result in some real life hard-tech ideas getting funding. Such as Melvin Prueitt's smog scrubbing towers, basically hollow towers with open tops that have mist sprayers (which, important step, also applies a charge to the mist). The sprayed water cools the air causing it to sink. The sinking air spins turbines to generate power to help run the pumping system that feeds the misters. At the bottom you use an opposite charge to attract the droplets of water and feed them into a filtering system that extracts some of the pollution that the droplets will have picked up. Then take that water and feed it back into the misters. Prueitt figured it could scrub LA's air without noticeable aesthetic damage to the cities skyline. That seems a bit optimistic considering he also figured it would take about 190 towers each about 650 feet tall. I think even in a city the size of LA that would be noticeable. That said we're still talking about a system to clean the air without the use of the handwavium that would set off politicians and NIMBYers.
-----
Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.