35. Would the windmills in Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars" books work?
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This article is from the rec.arts.sf.written FAQ, by Evelyn C. Leeper evelynleeper@geocities.com with numerous contributions by others.
35. Would the windmills in Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars" books work?
Or more specifically, in Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars" books, can the
windmills contribute anything to warming up the planet?
No. Not even a very small amount as claimed later on in the
series. According to RED MARS, the windmills convert one form of
energy into another--no conservation of energy violation occurs. The
problem is that they are irrelevant to the process of this conversion,
which happens quite efficiently because of the Second Law of
Thermodynamics, windmills or no windmills. That's what the growth of
entropy is all about. While the actual, secret purpose of the mills
was quite different, it is not credible that their official purpose
should not be exposed as a fraud almost immediately.
[Provided by Mike Arnautov [mla@mipmip.demon-co-antispam-uk].]
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