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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

In a message dated 6/8/2007 2:32:23 PM Eastern Daylight Time, vdjor AT yahoo.com 
writes:


> I wish I could.  This was done in the late seventies
> after the first energy crises when they were still
> offering tax credits for solar installations.  I read
> it in a magazine or newspaper, it might be possible to
> find a reference in readers guide.
> 

At first glance the idea sounded bogus.  But thinking about it, I'm not so 
sure.  In a microcosm, a greenhouse, if you were cover the ground with bright 
white plastic, the air inside the greenhouse would be a bit cooler since much 
of 
the energy woudl be reflected back out of of the greenhouse as light.    But 
if you covered the ground with black plasic, much of the light is covnerted 
into heat and the temps go up.

A great deal of light that strikes the Earth is reflected back out into 
space, much of it as visible light.  In theory at least the light that 
strikes the 
solar cells but is converted into some form of energy that doesn't reflect 
back into space adds to the total energy the Earth is holding onto.  

But then again, much of that electrical energy is converted back into light 
which can be seen from space, so there it goes back.  Ya never know!   </HTML>