Environmental Effects Beyond Carbon
What environmental effects other than carbon emissions would space solar power have?
Chapter summary
launches and land use are the main ones, with beam effects small but needing monitoring.
Key takeaways
- 1
Building a 2 GW plant needs about 200 heavy launches (Chapter 43), each releasing exhaust into the upper atmosphere.
- 2
Methane and kerosene rockets emit soot (black carbon), which absorbs sunlight in the stratosphere; hydrogen rockets emit water vapour.
- 3
Re-entering hardware produces metal particles, such as aluminium oxide, that may affect ozone chemistry.
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