What is wrong with this idea?
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Could installing a shade fix the climate crisis?
No thats not a joke. Sometimes simple answers work, sometimes they don't. It seems the whole point of reducing carbon emissions is to change the absorbtion ratio of the solar energy that hits the earth. While its probably a good idea to maintain the atmospheric balance of gasses in ratios similar to those we evolved in, I suggest that the amount of solar energy the earth absorbs can be addressed seperately and much more directly.
I am aware that the various space programs would not have the funds to attempt such an endevour at this time. I am not so sure that it would be beyond our current technical expertise. I am no expert here, just a layperson. I would like to see a more robust space program in the future, and ponying up the funds to install a solar orbital with a earth - synchrous orbit whose purpose is adjustably deflecting solar energy could be an excellent oppritunity for it to cut its teeth on.
It would also cost a lot to maintain. It would need fuel for orbital corrections. It would need repair/upkeep for degradation problems. It is also likely that it could fail catastrophically, we would need to be able to replace it quickly. Despite maintenence costs, it seems that its impact would be quicker and more direct, and a much better step in controlling our climate on a global scale.
If we installed additinal solar orbitals that could reflect solar energy toward us, we would have direct control over a range of solar energy reaching our planet. Right now that would be bad, but if we start slipping towards an ice age in a millenia, I'd want a couple of those too.
Cleaning the panes of glass on a greenhouse will change how hot it gets, but installing a shade would have a much greater effect.
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ummm ? found this, "mylar shade in orbit"
Controlling Global Warming
http://www.advancedphysics.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1744
Atheism Books.
... and numerous ideas have been studied and proposed. They include
1. A single concave fresnel lense 1000km's wide and a few mm thick placed at what is known as the L1 orbital point (where an object would rotate around the sun at the same rate as the earth).
2. A ring of earth-orbiting satelites, micro-space craft or particles. They only need to orbit one small section (say the equator) and lessen the impact of the sun there to have a global affect.
3. Trillions of tiny lenses/screens only 60cm across, once again orbiting the sun at the L1 orbital point.
You're right about it being no joke. It's no laughing matter and has been investigated by scientists quite seriously. I'm sure there's other ideas as well, but those are the three I was familiar with and fortunately for me a quick google search brought up the third link which in it contained the first two as well making my job of finding them much easier.
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Very expensive, and wouldn't address the other problems of CO2 such as Ocean acidification which will disrupt coral reefs, shell-fish, etc,ie most of the marine eco-system
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Well its good to see that its been considered. Its bad to find out how weak my google fu has become. Thanks for providing the links. I am not surprised that we would need to keep our atmosphere balanced regardless of the climate.
No problems. It is interesting to see the ideas people come up with but as Bob said the cost of production is way too high, and it is barely a bandaid solution as it doesn't address the cause of the problem which still causes other issues as well. On top of this, there's a fair bit of speculation as to what other side effects we'll get from blocking some of the sunlight via this method. It could ultimately just cause more issues than it fixes.
Organised religion is the ultimate form of blasphemy.
Censored and blacked out for internet access in ANZ!
AU: http://nocleanfeed.com/ | NZ: http://nzblackout.org/