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Mitigation of climate change is a way to reduce greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. There are many ways to reduce greenhouse gas. One way to mitigate greenhouse gas is the reduction of electricity use through the power grid. By the use of windmills and solar energy one can do their part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is like having your own power grid in the backyard. The price of affordable wind turbines has become the norm over the past years. Currently, one can buy a forty-foot tall wind turbine for five hundred dollars on 8 kilowatts. However, it depends on how much wind is received in your area and whether this would be useful or not.
Solar energy is another way to gain ground on global warming. One Can buy a solar setup (more expensive) than wind energy 2 kilowatts for about 3000 dollars. This setup would include solar panels, wiring, and batteries. Solar energy is dependable for people who live in the desert or areas of the world where the sun rises day to day without much storm activity. Mitigation from solar energy is the most popular way of gaining ground on climate change as of this writing.
Geoengineering of climate change can be done simply by stratospheric aerosol injection. This is similar to a volcano erupting and the aerosols are sent into the atmosphere cooling the earth. Sulfate particles would then be sent into the atmosphere through world government authorities. When this is done it can’t be stopped because if so the atmosphere would warm greatly after such an event of this nature is no longer used. This would be similar to dust in the atmosphere from the deserts of the Sahara. The cost of such a project would be about 50 billion dollars a year.
Sunlight reflection would be another geoengineering technology that is being developed by the United States. One can seed clouds with sea salt to cause a reflection similar to the albedo effect. This would effectively reduce the warming of solar radiation upon the earth. It would once again have to be a long-term strategy to overcome the effects of greenhouse gas. China is also looking into a reflective shading in the atmosphere to cause the Himalayan Mountain glaciers from melting. However, China says they are not interested in moving on to this idea as of now. The cost is 60 dollars per cubic meter (Pearce. F. May 29, 2019).
This is not a cost-effective solution. The likelihood of this succeeding could be great but the cost must outweigh the good. Can we bankrupt the world to save it? Solar energy and wind energy are both great ways to overcome greenhouse gas. It is a way to reduce the current carbon footprint across the world. As far as the albedo effect of stratospheric aerosol injection and sea salt seeding of clouds. Not so sure this would be a thing to do. What will happen if the world does go long-term for something of this nature? What are the risks that might be seen currently? A lot more scientific study must be achieved before moving in either of these directions.
Another thought for mitigation is coal-fired power plants. This would increase the amount of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere and continue to employ people worldwide. Some would argue this could increase acid rain. However, wouldn’t putting sulfur into the atmosphere do the same thing? The difference is coal-fired power plants are already available to use and this would not impact monies across the world in an economical way. The coal-fired power plants would produce reflective particles that keep the earth from warming too much. This would be similar to many volcano eruptions. There are coal-fired power plants across the world and this would be a cost-effective solution rather than just emitting sulfur into the atmosphere through a government program. The geoengineering of more coal-fired power plants across the world would enhance reflective particles from sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere and get the same results as dumping sulfur into the atmosphere by governments across the world (NCA, 2014). However, one concern about this would be the problems from fly ash being dumped into communities. There have been reports in 2008 of fly ash-producing human cancer reactions. Not sure any of this was ever proven to be an accurate fact. Regardless, fly ash can be used in many construction applications across the world (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2017). This would once again make coal-fired power plants an option that can’t be ruled out for cooling the earth and economical gains should not be overlooked.
Andrew Yang, a presidential candidate in 2020 proposed space mirrors as a mitigation for the climate catastrophe. His idea was to zero carbon emissions by 2049 or 2050 through geoengineering of space mirrors. In doing so Mr. Yang suggests spending 4.59 trillion dollars on space mirrors to reflect light back and cool the earth. In order for this to work the world must cut down on the use of fossil fuel usage. Andrew Yang said that nuclear energy should replace fossil fuels. Some environmental activists are against his ideas and say that fossil fuels must be cleaned up and reduced from the earth before things will get better in the environment. They seem to believe a sitting United States President would refuse to shut down oil companies across the United States.
Space mirrors are not a bad idea when thinking about how to reflect light back toward the sun and the cooling down of the earth. However, the cost of 4.59 trillion to get this done is quite a move that would increase the national debt. If other countries were to get involved and share this burden of money it might turn out to be a great plan. Looking back coal-fired power plants and sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere it would still be the most cost-effective and job-creation application so far discussed.
Asteroid dust is another geoengineering idea that has come from Scottish scientists. Their idea is to collect asteroid dust from space and put it into the earth’s atmosphere. Their thought process would indicate cooling down of the earth and stopping global warming. How would they do this? The Scottish scientists would use a space vehicle with rockets to capture the asteroid and set it close to the earth’s orbit. They would then vibrate the space rock and cause it to send asteroid dust upon the earth's atmosphere. This would in turn reduce the amount of light from the sun and cool the earth. The main problem in this scenario is to get an asteroid to the location above the earth with rockets and space vehicles and the cost of trillions to get it done. However, political challenges from world countries could hamper such an idea. Plus having a large asteroid this close to earth could present challenges on how to keep it from colliding with the earth. There is no way to verify its effectiveness before bringing the asteroid this close to earth (Choi. C., September 28, 2012).
The idea of an asteroid being this close to the earth and producing dust without any knowledge of the dangers of this dust is ludicrous. Scientists must first find a reasonable way to test the asteroid dust before spending tremendous money and resources to bring an asteroid this close to the earth.
Moondust is another idea that has come to light from Iowa State University. The idea is to mitigate global warming through the geoengineering of mined moon dust. However, the cost to get a space vehicle to the moon and release mined moon dust could cost billions. Not to mention any human health reaction that might be caused by the dust if it was to get into the atmosphere. All of these concerns must be looked at with a logical mind before advancing on such an endeavor. However, lunar dust would fit the bill for reflecting sunlight away from the earth and possibly defeating global warming. The idea is to release the dust twice a month and it would block twenty hours of sunlight per month.
It sounds like a science fiction novel to me and only blocking twenty hours of sunlight per month is really going to help with global warming. I still believe the most cost-effective and economical situation is the coal-fired power plants. One can put sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere and reflect sunlight. Governments around the world unless in a last-ditch effort are not going bankrupt from global warming. It sounds ludicrous but the governments of the world would rather fight a war than set down and talk about the aspects of global warming.
References
Pearce. F. (May 29, 2019). Geoengineer The Planet? More Scientists Now Say It Must Be An Option. Yale University. Retrieved from: https://e360.yale.edu/features/geoengineer-the-planet-more-scientists-now-say-it-must-be-an-option
NCA. (2014). Mitigation. NCA. Retrieved from: https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/response-strategies/mitigation
U.S. Department of Transportation. (June, 27, 2017). Fly Ash Facts for Highway Engineers. U.S. Department of Transportation. Retrieved from: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/recycling/fach01.cfm
Calma. J. (August 18, 2019). As a last resort, Andrew Yang proposes space mirrors to save the planet. THE VERGE.
Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/26/20833928/andrew-yang-climate-change-nuclear-carbon-capture-geoengineering-2020-elections
Choi. C. (September 28, 2012). Asteroid Dust Could Fight Climate Change on Earth. Space.com. Retrieved from: https://www.space.com/17830-asteroid-dust-geoenineering-global-warming.html
New Scientist. (Feb. 9, 2007). Keep Earth cool with Moon dust. New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11151-keep-earth-cool-with-moon-dust/