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$200 Million Dollars a Year Could Reverse Climate Change, Says Wave Energy Pioneer (bbc.com)
dryriver writes: BBC Future reports on a geoengineering technique called "marine cloud brightening" that makes marine Stratocumulus clouds -- which currently reflect almost 30% of total Solar radiation back into space -- whiter, causing them to reflect more sunlight away from earth. Professor Stephen Salter of Edinburgh University, a well-known 1970s wave and tidal power pioneer, has designed an unmanned hydro-foil ship, computer-controlled and wind-powered, which pumps an ultra-fine mist of sea salt toward the cloud layer, causing it to turn white: "'Spraying about 10 cubic meters per second could undo all the [global warming] damage we've done to the world up until now,' Salter claims. And, he says, the annual cost would be less than the cost to host the annual UN Climate Conference -- between $100-$200 million each year. Salter calculates that a fleet of 300 of his autonomous ships could reduce global temperatures by 1.5C. He also believes that smaller fleets could be deployed to counter-act regional extreme weather events.
Hurricane seasons and El Nino, exacerbated by high sea temperatures, could be tamed by targeted cooling via marine cloud brightening. Salter boasts that 160 of his ships could 'moderate an El Nino event, and a few hundred [would] stop hurricanes.' The same could be done, he says, to protect large coral reefs such as the Great Barrier Reef, and even cool the polar regions to allow sea ice to return. So, what's the catch? Well, there's a very big catch indeed. The potential side-effects of solar geoengineering on the scale needed to slow hurricanes or cool global temperatures are not well understood. According to various theories, it could prompt droughts, flooding, and catastrophic crop failures. Another major concern is that geoengineering could be used as an excuse to slow down emissions reduction, meaning CO2 levels continue to rise and oceans continue to acidify -- which, of course, brings its own serious problems."
Hurricane seasons and El Nino, exacerbated by high sea temperatures, could be tamed by targeted cooling via marine cloud brightening. Salter boasts that 160 of his ships could 'moderate an El Nino event, and a few hundred [would] stop hurricanes.' The same could be done, he says, to protect large coral reefs such as the Great Barrier Reef, and even cool the polar regions to allow sea ice to return. So, what's the catch? Well, there's a very big catch indeed. The potential side-effects of solar geoengineering on the scale needed to slow hurricanes or cool global temperatures are not well understood. According to various theories, it could prompt droughts, flooding, and catastrophic crop failures. Another major concern is that geoengineering could be used as an excuse to slow down emissions reduction, meaning CO2 levels continue to rise and oceans continue to acidify -- which, of course, brings its own serious problems."
10 cubic meters of sea salt per second to the cloud layer height (2km). You would be moving 21700 kilograms of sea salt to the cloud layer every second... thats 1.3 million tons per minute. 31 million tons per hour. 937 million tons per month.... This does not even sound remotely feasible for 200 million dollars. For an aircraft like a 747, your best odds are moving 200lbs of cargo (human) at 18 cents per mile... that's 1.80 per 2000 pounds, 18 dollars per 10 tons. Basic estimate by our most efficient means would mean putting 10 cubic meter of sea salt in the air per second at 16 billion dollars a month, or 200 billion dollars a year... but I almost forgot, the mid level cloud layer starts at 2 miles to six miles, or 400 billion to 1.2 trillion dollars per year... and if we want to be really specific, those airline costs are to move 200lbs hundreds of miles.... you would need to add takeoff costs because they would just fly up and drop it.
Thankfully the clouds of misted water dissipate quickly and don't have any byproducts, unlike other suggestions, aerogels, etc. So it can be done in a pretty safe and stoppable way if some unforeseen consequence emerged.
They're just artificial clouds, it's just water. Where and when they do this and how the wind carries it, monitoring all of that, it's not simple but it is pretty straightforward. Certainly less risky than some alternative proposals.
But your fear is warranted of course.
Jeff Bezos give 1 billion dollars a year for climate change, even if you live a 100 more years you will never go broke! Problem solved!
It will soon be raining salt water .
I wondered that. How can we prevent the extra salt from travelling over land and adjusting the chemical composition of farm land. It almost seems like that could lead to a worse environmental disaster for places along the wind currents of these salt sprayers than global warming.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch