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Re:Cooling the Earth with a cloud of small spacecraft near t... by RayVR on Saturday August 26, 2017 @09:31AM (#15105341)
> it would be so incredibly easy to stop 80% of anthropogenic emissions.

Please provide some evidence for this massive claim.

Re:Cooling the Earth with a cloud of small spacecraft near t... by hwillis on Saturday August 26, 2017 @10:09AM (#15105508)
80% would be electrifying all road transport and making grid electricity renewable, and converting processes to electricity (primarily converting home heating). Road+heating+residential electricity is about 70% of co2 in the us and 50% of methane. The remainder is industrial use of electricity.

NB that this claim is in response to a proposed solution of building a gun to shoot a sun shield into space. The difficulty is relative. One is incredibly easy compared to the other.

Re:Cooling the Earth with a cloud of small spacecraft near t... by cossatot on Saturday August 26, 2017 @10:41AM (#15105637)
Electricity isn't an energy source. Right now the US generates ~65% of electricity from burning coal and natural gas[1]. This is a common misconception with hydrogen fuel cells as well, which are chemical batteries, not energy sources.

While I agree with your general sentiment in this thread, simple electrification isn't enough; we also have to roll out major renewable energy generation and storage (which is still far wiser than building a gun to shoot a sun shield into space).

[1]: https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3

Re:Cooling the Earth with a cloud of small spacecraft near t... by hwillis on Saturday August 26, 2017 @10:55AM (#15105699)
mistyped and left out 'renewable' grid electricity. In my defense, I have norovirus right now and my brain is currently flowing towards a water treatment facility somewhere.
Re:Cooling the Earth with a cloud of small spacecraft near t... by RayVR on Saturday August 26, 2017 @10:52AM (#15105689)
Even converting all of those sectors to electric/renewable, you don't remove all greenhouse gases, you cut them down. In the case of personal transportation we see estimates of ~53% reduction in carbon footprint. I don't know what the improvements would look like if all utilities were forced to go renewables but we would certainly see large increases in price.
Re:Cooling the Earth with a cloud of small spacecraft near t... by humanrebar on Saturday August 26, 2017 @10:41AM (#15105636)
...and where would the electricity come from?
Re:Cooling the Earth with a cloud of small spacecraft near t... by ginko on Saturday August 26, 2017 @11:14AM (#15105783)
This doesn't seem easy at all.