Dr. Ross thinks our beneficial, extreme climate stability is ending. In just the last 70 years, the heat effect from human agriculture and industry went beyond offsetting the cooling trend, all the way to a net heat increase.
Draconian demands of environmental activists are beyond what governments can deliver. But Ross says some things could be done to mitigate the danger for a few hundred or maybe thousands of years, if the technology and funding can be achieved.
Some sort of sun screen could shield us from part of the sun's radiation. Even with extremely thin material, the cost of placing it into space is estimated at many billions of dollars. A likely stability problem would have to be overcome as well.
A second proposal would place solar power generators in space. Photovoltaic cells would be made by 3-D printers in space and assembled robotically. Solar energy would be transmitted by microwaves and then converted to electricity on earth. Potentially, solar power generating systems in space could reduce or eliminate the need for fossil fuels.
Sounds far fetched, but a Chinese team of scientists plans to send the first such systems into space between 2021 and 2025.
(cont'd tomorrow)
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