This shows that even fast and aggressive solutions need about 40 years. The window of opportunity for any practical solution is very narrow. Current trends will raise CO2 to levels associated with a 20C planet.
There is a beginning of an attempt to map out scenarios where todayâs wind, solar and bio are capable of solving the 450ppm problem. However none address the whole problem in any realistic fashion. The problem with âall of the aboveâ solutions is that it is possible to keep adding more elements to the solution, regardless of their practicality or economic impact. Common strategies are to reduce the projected energy demand using hypothetical efficiency gains, storage technologies or belt tightening morality. Other strategies only solve a part of the problem, like electricity, or ignore the land limit by expanding the supply of land to include unrealistic far away areas like the Sahara desert or mountains.
StratoSolar-PV is economically viable, scales to the local energy demand regardless of geography, and has the least impact on land use and the environment. Whatâs not to like?
By Edmund Kelly