Sea-going hardware for the implementation of the cloud albedo control method for the reduction of global warming
The ideal solution to the problem of global warming would be for everybody to change immediately from fossil fuel to cheap, reliable and plentiful renewable sources of energy. But China will be building 1000 MW of coal-fired plant every four or five days for the next eight years and India the same e...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2007
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.572.8723 http://www.theengineer.co.uk/journals/pdf/25649.pdf |
| Summary: | The ideal solution to the problem of global warming would be for everybody to change immediately from fossil fuel to cheap, reliable and plentiful renewable sources of energy. But China will be building 1000 MW of coal-fired plant every four or five days for the next eight years and India the same every two weeks. World fossil fuel consumption rose by 4 % in 2004. Coal consumption rose by 6%. Our leaders are betting the planet on the hope that carbon sequestration, renewable energy and improved efficiency will be able to compensate. The 2004 increase in the rate of rise of CO2 to 2.5 ppm suggests that the goal has not yet been achieved. If the leaders are wrong and the Siberian permafrost melts to release its stored methane, the global temperature rise will accelerate even more than now, even if we were to succeed in reducing carbon emissions. Back-up plans are urgently needed. This paper describes the hardware of a plan based on John Latham’s 1990 proposal to exploit the Twomey effect. Wind-driven spray-vessels will release micron-sized drops of sea water beneath marine strato-cumulus clouds. This will increase their albedo and so reflect enough solar energy back out to space to allow double present CO2 levels with no change of mean global temperature. |
|---|