Environment Scientists to stop global warming with 100,000 square mile sun shade

[The Helper]

According to astronomer Dr Roger Angel, at the University of Arizona, the trillions of mirrors would have to be fired one million miles above the earth using a huge cannon with a barrel of 0.6 miles across.

The gun would pack 100 times the power of conventional weapons and need an exclusion zone of several miles before being fired.

Despite the obvious obstacles - including an estimated $350 trillion (£244trn) price tag for the project - Dr Angel is confident of getting the project off the ground.

He said: "What we have developed is certainly effective and a method guaranteed to work.

Will a Giant Mirrored Force Field Save the Planet From Global Warming?

Despite obstacles, including an estimated $350 trillion price tag, a University of Arizona astronomer wants to save the earth from global warming by firing trillions of mirrors ito the stratosphere […]

bigthink.com

 

[Vicboy]

So its going to go boom and shrapnel will...

go to space?

 

[Snowbizzle]

I have to say, when I first saw that title, all that came to mind was Mr. Burns building a giant disk to blot out the sun. The Simpsons can do anything.

 

[WastedSavior]

I have to say, when I first saw that title, all that came to mind was Mr. Burns building a giant disk to blot out the sun. The Simpsons can do anything.

Or the Global Warming Futrama where Wernstrom shoots a gigantic mirror up into space to reflect rays, which turns into a disaster when it begins to rotate and instead of deflecting, begins focusing the rays back onto earth.

In all honesty, this has got to be one of the worst idea's i've ever heard concerning global warming.

Even the Bamboo Project seems more realistic.

I can't imagine a country is going to spend 350 TRILLION dollars to launch a bunch of debris into space. Let alone all the other obvious flaws in this little theory.

 

[Azlier]

Let's launch all our normal garbage into space, too! Clear up that landfill problem and have a polluted, sunless sky! Sounds fun :thup:

 

[Exfyre]

why dont we just build a giganticcannon to shoot the earth towards pluto. That would take care of the "warming" problem, and I'm sure the ice caps would reform. It'll prolly be cheaper too. Better yet, make a giant water cannon to douse the sun. Or maybe we could get chuck norris to run really fast and make the earth spin faster so some of the sunlight would get reflected from sheer awesomeness.

Mr. Angel, you fail.

"Gee yeah, were just gonna make a 350 trillion dollar cannon to blot out the sun with mirrors." Go back to WoW, the earth doesn't need you.

 

[Blackveiled]

Wouldn't it be miserably cold underneathe the sun shade?

 

[Pineapple]

Let's launch all our normal garbage into space, too!

Futurama did it.

 

[ReVolver]

I got the bad feeling Al Gore is behind this sinister plan.

 

[shinami]

Ok so what if something crashes into the mirror? Millions of miles above earth? I'm pretty sure there's a lot of shit flying around there in space.

 

[esb]

Might as well make a giant umbrella...

 

[darkRae]

The first thing that came to my mind is:
I wonder if the mirrors can actually go to outer space without being broken.
(Air friction man, air friction)

Or maybe they've taken care of that....

What if the mirrors somehow fail and fall back to Earth O_O

 

[Wiseman_2]

What if the mirrors somehow fail and fall back to Earth O_O

Yeah, that crappy satellite didn't work quite as planned, did it?

 

[Tythoid]

I find this a increadible waste of money. The changes caused by Greenhouse gases if we were to stop burning fossil fuels would reverse in 5 years making a gun costing 350trillion to fire mirrors into would be intensly pointless for 6 reasons:

1. The mirrors would create a debris field around earth dangering future space missions
2. The mirrors would only be useful for 50years
3. The 350 trillion could be better spent on alternative fuels
4. Fossil fuels will run soon/ will be replaced as the primary fuel source within the next few years and so the problems of using them will disapear and the world will have wasted 350trillion on a "solution"
5. Per Kilowatt per hour produced by a wind turbine costs around 1000USD on average 3.50*1014/1000= 3.5*1011 kWh of power for the same price plus and this will reduce emissions dramatically.
6. Nuclear Fusion creates huge amounts of energy from tiny ammounts of fuel. The energy that the sun creates with this process every second could power America for over 1000 years. At the moment the world spends a few billion on this research a year even spending as little as 1 trillion could fund the research bringing us alot closer to turning fusion into a useable energy source which will available within 20-50 years.

350trillion is alot of money 1 350th of which Obama is putting together to stimulate the economy. With that kind of money using it to make a light shade is grossly wasting money. It is not a realistic figure to pay because doing anything in space increases its value dramatically for 350trillion you could pay everyone in the world $40,000-50,000 to build wind turbines on the roof or buy a hydrogen fueled car (which does exist).

 

[TheDamien]

This is more science fiction than science.

 

[chanta45]

That is just idiotic, like i'm not 100% sure (obviously) but many reports say that the earth also goes through fluctuations (cycles) in both carbon levels (which has an effect on temperatures obviusly). Like it was said, putting that 350$ tril into research would probably yield much much much better results, hydrogen, solar, wind, those are the directions we should be taking, not this giant diffraction shield in space, it's just a scam for our tax money =[

 

[uberfoop]

Did nobody bother mentioning that 350 trillion is 7 YEARS OF GLOBAL GDP? Yea, 20 or 30 years to launch they say. Rofl. So basically, this guy thinks the world will hand him resources comparable to the annual output of the USA every single year for the next 20 or 30 years.

Oh yeah, remember all that stuff about sattelite collisions? You know what, screw small objects! We need a 100,000 square mile BLANKET in space! It will ENDURE THROUGH THE AGES.


It's even more ridiculous in light of all the evidence that this warming might have little to nothing to do with what we've been doing; for the past 10,000 years or so, the temperature increases have been driving society, not the other way around. We are currently perfectly on schedule for a global heat spike and, based on termperature data, have no reason to believe that this heat spike won't do what the ones before it did and fall back down on its own. Unless you're Al Gore, at which point you are a hipocrite who supports a bunch of fail profiteers with the lowest scientific rigor ever, as evidenced by all the times they've been owned after screwing with the data.


Back on topic though, how did this joke make it onto telegraph.co.uk? It isn't April 1...

 

[Varine]

Isn't this a little drastic for a theory that's not really working out? I mean, I understand that I've been wrong, but there's still this thing that I know of called January.

HEY has anyone else seen Sunshine? I don't know this reminded me of that, but wouldn't it be cool to make a ship that had that kind of shield? I would ride in it.

 

[Bartuc08]

stupid humans...

can't we just let the earth take it's natural course, wherever that may be?

 

[Darthfett]

IMO, if you had $350 trillion dollars to spend on making the earth more 'green', you could do better giving some sort of hydrogen powered car to every person on the earth.

Seriously though, $350 trillion dollars divided up between 6.6 billion people is $53,030 dollars per person.

I'd say giving every single person in the world a car that doesn't run on gasoline is a tiny bit better than making a large piece of trash to launch off into space, just to temporarily stop "global warming", don't you think?