Bill Gates Funds Seawater-Spraying Cloud Machines

lucidkoan writes "Environmentalists have long argued about whether geoengineering (using technology to alter the climate) is a good way to tackle climate change. But the tactic has some heavy hitters on its side, including Bill Gates. The Microsoft founder recently announced plans to invest $300,000 into research for machines that suck up seawater and spray it into the air, seeding white clouds that reflect rays of sunlight away from Earth. The machines, developed by a San Francisco-based research group called Silver Lining, turn seawater into tiny particles that can be shot up over 3,000 feet in the air. The particles increase the density of clouds by increasing the amount of nuclei contained within."

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Re:What could

[NeutronCowboy]

The snarkiness is required. Let's assume we want to increase average ocean evaporation by 1%: about 4000 km^3, and that evaporation means putting it at 1000 meters of altitude. That will require 4*10^12kg*1000m*10m/sec^2= 4*10^16 Joules, or about 1.1 *10^10 MWatt hours.... or the energy put out by about 2000 600MWatt nuclear reactors for an entire year. Yeah, I'd really have to see how much a certain amount of water vapor is going to change the albedo effect before deciding on whether this is going to be useful. In theory, it works, in practice... I don't know about this. Most of that energy would come from coal-plants, and that's just not gonna be a net positive.