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I'm skeptical we can summon the political will to switch off of fossil fuels regardless if it's the only way to survive. But the money is on the side of renewa
by joshmarlow 7y ago
I'm skeptical we can summon the political will to switch off of fossil fuels regardless if it's the only way to survive.
But the money is on the side of renewables - from [0]:
> Not a single coal-fired power plant along the Ohio River will be able to compete on price with new wind and solar power by 2025, according to a new report by energy analysts.
Solar prices are dropping so it'll eventually beat fossil fuels in the market. Sunshades or similar geoengineering projects may require less political will at the right price point and allow us to kick the can down the road long enough for our own greed to save us :)
[0] - https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25032019/coal-energy-costs-analysis-wind-solar-power-cheaper-ohio-valley-southeast-colorado https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25032019/coal-energy-cost...
- throwaway5752 7y agoWhat impact would a solar shade have on that? On agriculture and overall photosynthetic capacity? I honestly don't know or know of any quality modeling of it.
- joshmarlow 7y agoVery good questions and I don't have the answer. I was mostly trying to respond to the concern that it's just kicking the can down the road. But if we're speculating... with cheap launch capacity and cheap/efficient solar, we could start talking about building solar farms in space. Also - again speculating - if the shade has limited coverage, there should be a temperature difference on the edge of the shadow. That may cause increased wind, which could benefit windmills.
- throwaway5752 7y agoI think wind would suffer because of less energy overall going into the system. I'm not an expert enough to know the answer.