The term "geoengineering?"is used to designate scientific projects aimed at modifying climate and terrestrial energy balance to fight against global warming.Geoen-engineering divides the scientific community: many climatologists fear the possible side effects of this form of" air conditioning " of the earth.
question
Geoengineering: the main projects
- Limit solar radiation: in the United States, researchers plan to send reflective mirrors or a giant satellite into orbit to intercept part of the sun's rays.
- Cooling the atmosphere: the "artificial volcanoes" project plans to send 1 million tonnes of sulfur particles each year to the Earth's atmosphere to cool the Earth's climate.
- Capturing CO2: still at the experimental stage, the burial of carbon dioxide generated by certain industries (refining, iron and steel industry ...) could be implemented within a decade.
However
Geo-engineering: for or against?
Advantages :
- Geoengineering can be a resort if global warming becomes uncontrollable
- It is about finding solutions on a global scale and not limited geographically
Disadvantages:
- The exorbitant cost of implementing geoengineering projects
- The impossibility of measuring the potential secondary effects of certain projects on biodiversity and human health
the number
One-digit geoengineering
12 000 billion: number of tons of CO2 that could be stored underground (aquifers, coal mines, porous rocks ...).
news
The news of geoengineering
In an April interview with the Associated Press, John Holdren, President Obama's scientific advisor, spoke about climate manipulation. "We can not afford the luxury of discounting some approaches, we could be pretty desperate to use geoengineering," he said, adding that these techniques would only be used as a last resort.