In an effort to combat global warming, researchers are delving into a new kind of environmental technology that involves machinery with the ability to create synthetic clouds.
The concept behind the idea, which has been funded by Bill Gates, is for these particles to increase the number of cloud nuclei, which create denser, whiter clouds that reflect the sun’s rays away from Earth, keeping it cooler.
While this innovative technology may help the environment, some are hesitant about such technology.
Peter Waylen, department chair of geography at UF, explained that the world is much more complex than imagined.
“As Americans, we focus on one problem and work on finding a solution for that one problem,” he said. “We don’t think about the other consequences that go along with the entire picture. You can’t change one part of the Earth without it affecting the other parts,” he said.
Waylen also explained that clouds are made up of water and water vapor, which are actually greenhouse gases themselves.
“By having machines spray these gases into the atmosphere, means it could be increasingly difficult to reduce the amount of energy that clouds let in, to escape,” he said.
Rose Prince, a graduate student at UF with an undergraduate degree in geography, feels that these cloud machines are a step in a direction, but it may not the right direction. Prince said she encourages more research to be done on the new machines, as long as Gates is willing to fund most of the research.
“I think it’s a good idea, but my only concern would be if it were drawing from other resources being funded,” she added.
