Early this year, I reported that Mexico cracked down on a project called “Make Sunsets,” which would have used sulfur-based compounds to counter what “experts” assert is man-caused global warming.
Congress had ordered the White House to review the core geoengineering approach of the Mexico project, the blockage of solar radiation. The report, produced by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, initially seemed to offer measured support for the idea of studying similar plans.
The controversial concept known as solar radiation modification is a potentially effective response to fighting climate change, but one that could have unknown side effects stemming from altering the chemical makeup of the atmosphere, some scientists say.The White House report released late Friday indicates that the Biden administration is open to studying the possibility that altering sunlight might quickly cool the planet. But it added a degree of skepticism by noting that Congress has ordered the review, and the administration said it does not signal any new policy decisions related to a process that is sometimes referred to — or derided as — geoengineering.
The report provided all sorts of grandiose ideas on how to achieve solar radiation modification (SRM), all of which come with potentially destructive unintended consequences.
One method would be to significantly increase the amount of aerosols in the stratosphere, which would reflect the sun’s rays from the planet.Other ideas floated included increasing cloud coverage over oceans, or reducing the amount of cirrus cloud formations, which reflect solar radiation back to the Earth.The report noted that undertaking the mammoth task could have severe ramifications weather patterns and food supplies, which would in turn impact biodiversity, geopolitics, and health….While insisting that it was not definitively moving ahead with the plan, the Biden administration insisted in its report that the idea appeared promising.It said a ‘program of research’ into the practice would ‘enable better-informed decisions about the potential risks and benefits’ of blocking the sun.
There has been a lot of graft and wealth transfer that still has yet to be tapped into. Watts Up With That contributor Francis Menton crunched the numbers and determined that the world is now wasting over $1 trillion in “renewables.”
…[T]he massive investments in wind and solar additions for electricity generation were not even sufficient to keep up with demand growth, let alone displace even a bit of existing fossil fuel generation. Even in the electricity sector, fossil fuels continued to grow. And the electricity sector is only about a quarter of primary energy consumption.Here’s the big picture:
- Primary energy demand . . . in 2022 increas[ed] 1.1%. . . .
- Global electricity generation increased by 2.3% in 2022 . . . .
- Fossil fuel consumption as a percentage of primary energy remained steady at 82%. . . .
- Carbon dioxide emissions from energy use, industrial processes, flaring and methane (in carbon dioxide equivalent terms) continued to rise to a new high growing 0.8% in 2022 to 39.3 GtCO2e, with emissions from energy use rising 0.9% to 34.4 GtCO2. Bottom line: it’s now $1 trillion per year, plus or minus, invested in wind and solar “renewables” plus grid upgrades and energy storage needed to accommodate them. And for that vast sum of money, the percent of primary energy from fossil fuels does not budge by even a tenth of a percent. And, as world energy consumption increases, carbon emissions just continue to increase. The trillion is just completely wasted.
Just imagine how much more money might be wasted on these SRM technologies.
However, there are a few upsides to this news. I have always maintained that the biggest driver of climate was the Sun. The SRM approach aligns with that assertion.
Additionally, more people are questioning The Science and the “experts.” There was a great deal of pushback on social media on the announcement of the report, based on real science.
Now it is being reported that the Biden administration stressed, in a separate statement, there was no “comprehensive research” planned for SRM.
In a separate statement after the release, the White House said, “There are no plans underway to establish a comprehensive research program focused on solar radiation modification.”
Hopefully, no power-mad, climate-crusading, morally righteous Big Tech billionaire will decide to fund SRM privately.
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