Summary:
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Innovative Cooling Proposal
A new study suggests that injecting 5 million tons of diamond dust into the stratosphere each year could cool the planet by approximately 1.6°C, potentially mitigating severe consequences of global warming. -
High Costs
The proposed method is estimated to cost around $200 trillion over the rest of the century, making it far more expensive than traditional geoengineering approaches that utilize sulfur particles. -
Research Methodology
Researchers evaluated the effects of various particles, including sulfur dioxide and diamond dust, over a 45-year modeling period, using a supercomputer to simulate their impacts. -
Advantages of Diamond Dust
Diamond particles are seen as advantageous due to their effectiveness in reflecting solar radiation, their stability in the atmosphere, and their chemical inertness, which would help avoid issues like acid rain that can arise from sulfur. -
Challenges in Production
To implement this plan, a significant increase in synthetic diamond production would be necessary, with costs for diamond dust estimated at around $500,000 per ton, making it 2,400 times more expensive than sulfur.
Read more at: Science Magazine
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