Cloud Power Cutting Climate Change
Solar Geoengineering
Artificially Brightened Clouds at Sea Designed to Reduce Global Temperatures
After major volcanic eruptions the Earth cools. For example, millions of tons of volcanic ash from the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991 in the Philippines formed a huge global haze. The haze was discovered to be a protective sunscreen, bouncing sun rays back to space and lowering world temperatures by .6C. Today, global researchers wonder if producing artificial clouds could work in a similar way and reduce world temperatures.
Clouds
Clouds naturally reflect the sun's rays. At the UN, a solar geoengineering committee has been formed to consider the possibilities of utilizing artificially brightened clouds with enhanced power to reflect back sun rays. Research teams at Harvard University and top think tanks around the world are working on approaches. One idea of note comes from University of Edinburgh Professor Emeritus Stephen Salter, who is a leading advocate of solar geoengineering. And he says his concept is ready to be built.
Fleets of Ships
Salter's idea is fleets of unmanned hydrofoil ships, computer controlled and wind powered that pump ultrafine sea mist at the cloud layer. He says that would make the clouds brighter and more reflective of sun rays sending them back into space. He calculates a fleet of 300 ships could cut world temps 1.5C. He claims spraying 10 cubic meters per second would undo all the global warming that's been done. He estimates the cost at $100 million to $200 million.
Big Unknowns
There is growing interest in solving global warming by solar geoengineering. The problem is we do not know the consequences of tampering with nature in this fashion. Some experts warn the consequences of geoengineering sunshine could be dire, including drought, crop failure and more. It is a hot topic, getting hotter, as the world struggles to reduce global warming. For more news blogs on innovation, go to amazon.com/author/ekane
 |
| 1991 Mount Pinatubo Volcanic Eruption |
Artificially Brightened Clouds at Sea Designed to Reduce Global Temperatures
After major volcanic eruptions the Earth cools. For example, millions of tons of volcanic ash from the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991 in the Philippines formed a huge global haze. The haze was discovered to be a protective sunscreen, bouncing sun rays back to space and lowering world temperatures by .6C. Today, global researchers wonder if producing artificial clouds could work in a similar way and reduce world temperatures.
Clouds
Clouds naturally reflect the sun's rays. At the UN, a solar geoengineering committee has been formed to consider the possibilities of utilizing artificially brightened clouds with enhanced power to reflect back sun rays. Research teams at Harvard University and top think tanks around the world are working on approaches. One idea of note comes from University of Edinburgh Professor Emeritus Stephen Salter, who is a leading advocate of solar geoengineering. And he says his concept is ready to be built.
Fleets of Ships
Salter's idea is fleets of unmanned hydrofoil ships, computer controlled and wind powered that pump ultrafine sea mist at the cloud layer. He says that would make the clouds brighter and more reflective of sun rays sending them back into space. He calculates a fleet of 300 ships could cut world temps 1.5C. He claims spraying 10 cubic meters per second would undo all the global warming that's been done. He estimates the cost at $100 million to $200 million.
Big Unknowns
There is growing interest in solving global warming by solar geoengineering. The problem is we do not know the consequences of tampering with nature in this fashion. Some experts warn the consequences of geoengineering sunshine could be dire, including drought, crop failure and more. It is a hot topic, getting hotter, as the world struggles to reduce global warming. For more news blogs on innovation, go to amazon.com/author/ekane
Comments
Post a Comment