Hey Anthony, thanks for the reply as always, and sorry for the lateness of mine! Got in a huge batch of freelance work that's kept me occupied. Let's hope it's a trend, 'cause it sure was nice to be translating again!
I agree with your comment. Things always look better on paper. But, industry and government are devoting XX number of dollars to projects all the time now, right? They look at the potential costs of outfitting, say, old coal plants with stack scrubbers and all the latest clean technology, they estimate a time frame (15 years), a dollar amount (hundreds of millions) and then greenlight it. So I think it's reasonable to take a serious look at the idea and figure out the feasibility.
As for unintended consequences, oh yeah, they shall be a plenty. I think you'd have to essentially get all countries to agree to deflecting sunlight away -- whether it's for their own benefit or not, there are going ot be recalcitrant countries, cold countries that like getting warm, and so on. Heck, if current temperature increase models are accurate, the majority of the American Bread Belt is and other fertile agricultural areas are going to shift into Canada, so one could see why Canada may say ixnay to the creen-say. Plus, we wouldn't exactly be SOLVING any problems, but rather simply putting them off, like a drug addict turning to booze. But I would say that a serious study into the idea would help clear up any vagaries to the plan and give us a clear idea of what the pros and cons are.
Anyway, the reason this is in a new entry (as opposed to a reply to the thread) is that I think I found the PDF that it came from. Just click on the picture to download the PDF for free (you'll need to enter your e-mail address and such probably), and look for the article within. It's pretty interesting stuff all around, although I will readily admit that a lot of it is pretty technical for me. Have a gander at it and then lemme know whatcha think!
