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Titania particles seen under a scanning electron microscope.
According to a report on the National Geographic website on June 1st, Beijing, scientists have recently proposed an ambitious geological engineering plan, which is to lay a layer of shielding in the stratosphere. I hope that doing so will help fight against the increasingly fierce confrontation. Global warming trends. According to this plan, people will use high air balloons to release millions of tons of titanium dioxide, a non-toxic chemical that is widely used in sunscreens and paints, inks, and even in foods. Once released into the atmosphere, these particles will soon spread to the world and help reflect more sunlight back into space.
According to Peter Davidson, the chemical engineer, who is responsible for the project, only about 3 million tons of titanium dioxide can be released into the atmosphere to form a layer with a thickness of only about 1 nanometer (1 million in 1 millimeter). The one-by-one cover, albeit thin, has produced enough impact to offset the greenhouse effect that would occur if the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere were doubled.
Davidson admits that this idea was inspired by the 1991 Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines. David himself is a British consulting company: President of Davidson Technology Corporation. In that eruption event, 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide rushed into the stratosphere, where a thin layer of sulfuric acid mist formed. As a consequence, global temperatures dropped by about 0.5 degrees Celsius in the following two years. However, the sulfuric acid mist will cause the destruction of the ozone layer and cause drought. This is because the sulfuric acid mist absorbs and scatters sunlight, which causes the atmosphere to cool down. This cooling is enough to disturb the circulation system in the stratosphere. In contrast, titanium dioxide is 7 times more efficient in scattering sunlight than sulfuric acid mist. This means that to achieve the same cooling effect requires only a much smaller amount, so its impact on the atmosphere will be much smaller.
Balloon spread system
According to Davidson's plan, these substances containing titanium dioxide will be carried through a pipe in an unmanned balloon and rise to an altitude of about 20 kilometers and released. A supersonic nozzle will allow these particles to spread quickly and spread rapidly in the upper atmosphere of the earth. These balloons will be released from ships or islands located in tropical equatorial regions. There are no storms at this latitude, which can reduce or avoid damage to balloon equipment caused by lightning strikes and strong winds.
Prior to this, there have been similar proposals made by others to achieve global cooling by spreading particles in the upper atmosphere. But the novelty of Davidson's plan is that he uses titanium dioxide and balloon dispersion systems, which can significantly reduce implementation costs compared to other proposals that use aircraft or rockets.
Rob Jackson, an environmental scientist from Duke University in North Carolina, said that “the biggest cost for any particle dispersion system is to send these particles to high altitudes.†And once it has decided to implement such a plan, as long as the greenhouse effect is still evident and the level of carbon dioxide in the global atmosphere is still high, the plan cannot be stopped halfway. Jackson said: "We must persevere until we achieve the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide." Taking into account the ongoing reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions, he said: "We may have to do this work for hundreds of years The project leader, Davidson, estimated that the cost of the balloon spread system would require between $800 million and $950 million a year, plus an additional $2 billion to $3 billion a year in titanium dioxide.
The risk is still unknown?
Davidson stressed that the implementation of this titanium dioxide cooling program will minimize the impact on the atmosphere environment. In an e-mail, he pointed out: "Many tests that have been carried out on humans exposed to titanium dioxide dust have not found clues to the health risks of human health, and have taken into account such low concentrations, causing human health problems. The risk is even lower."
However, Professor Duke Jackson of Duke University issued a warning. He said: "History has repeatedly proved that whenever we inject certain chemical substances into the atmosphere, the feedback given by the atmosphere is always beyond our expectation." The most famous case: Freons (CFCs). In the last century, this substance was widely used in refrigerator refrigeration systems or as a propellant, so they entered the earth's atmosphere in large quantities. However, what is the final result? Freon gradually shows the negative effects we did not anticipate: it can lead to the deadly destruction of the Earth’s atmospheric ozone layer. This once-famous chemical was eventually eliminated.
Final insurance policy
Both Davidson and Jackson agree with the view that TiO2 spray systems like this will take at least a few decades to mature. Jackson said: "In my opinion, we should not apply large-scale applications before we have enough knowledge and understanding of them. Maybe we should not even be involved in this matter at all."
Some scientists are also worried that such geoengineering solutions will obscure the true essence of the problem, that is, the growing greenhouse gas emissions. Jackson said: "If policymakers realize that the original greenhouse effect is so easy to overcome, then they may not be bothered to control greenhouse gas emissions." Jackson said: "I don't want to see us." The effort was eventually used to distract attention from the real problem."
However, Davidson pointed out that as the last insurance policy for humanity, we must have the ability and plan to curb the catastrophic greenhouse effect on Earth. He said: "If you refuse to conduct relevant research because of some concerns, it will be short-sighted. It is like that because you are still on the land safely, so that you don't need to develop a life jacket. Then when you are washed into the sea. It will only be desperate." (Breakfast)
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