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Could precisely engineered nanoparticles provide a novel geoengineering tool? http://apocadocs.com/s.pl?1284904237
In a nutshell, David's idea is to engineer discs around 10 micrometers across and 50 nanometers thick, with a core of aluminum, a top layer of aluminum oxide, and a bottom layer of barium titanate. Injected high enough into the atmosphere (so Brownian motion didn't muck things up) the discs should align with the lighter aluminum/aluminum oxide side facing up, and the heavier barium titanate side facing down. This is important, because the way these two surfaces interact with air molecules when the particles heat up - as they would do in sunlight - means that there would be a net force pushing the discs up (photophoresis). In effect, the particles would levitate to a stable position in the atmosphere, while keeping their shiny side to the sun - thus reflecting sunlight away from the earth (or increasing albedo).... The neat thing of course is that this is a concept that can be tested reasonably easily in the lab, using simulated atmospheres and prototype particles. And with advances in materials manufacturing in recent years, it shouldn't be too hard to make small batches of the discs.... In his paper, David estimates that around 10 billion kg of these nano-discs would be needed. That's a lot - but probably economically viable with large-scale investment in production and if the benefits were deemed important enough (David runs the figures assuming the cost of manufacture is less than 1 percent the cost of abating CO2 emissions, and arrives at a cost of less than $60/kg).
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[Read more stories about:
geoengineering, unintended consequences]
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'Doc Michael says:
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Only $600,000,000,000 dollars, and I can still run my lights all night? Let's do it!
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Although I wonder how we'd get 10 billion kilograms of these things up there. Oh yeah -- about a million rocket launches of 10,000-kilo payload!
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