2.4.5 Costs and Financing
The costs of implementing the surface cover (in $/sq. mi.) for the first year consist primarily of the cost of the plastic ($140,000), its installation ($35,000), monitoring ($8750) and maintenance ($30,000). Recurring costs include maintenance (cleaning and repair) and eventually, replacement of the plastic and the equipment. To cover 67,000 sq. mi., the first year cost is around $14 billion. The total cost for keeping 4 million sq. mi. of plastic in place and clean for 150 years is $16 trillion, (not considering inflation) or an average cost/yr. of $106 billion. This is around $14/ton carbon equivalent and is based on the radiative forcing of 19.5 GtC carbon emissions per year being offset by the cover.
The corresponding costs for offsetting forcing due to all U.S. electric power generation from 1750-2070 (390,000 sq. mi.) is $11.4 billion/yr. and $1.7 trillion overall. These costs compare very favorably with the DOE’s $10/ton goal for managing carbon from power plant emissions. Industries and countries will pay for the project after modification and ratification of an international climate change treaty that includes provisions for use of surface albedo enhancement in addition to emissions reductions to achieve compliance.
2.4.6 Scheduling
Ideally, the program would proceed with three Phases. In Phase I, computer modeling would be done to determine if the coverage will cause disruptive climate changes and if so, at what level of coverage would this begin. In Phase II, development of the plastic cover and the maintenance equipment would be carried out along with field tests of progressively larger areas from 20 hectares (50 acres) up to 5000 square miles. Full-scale implementation would begin in 2013 and continue until 2073. Monitoring and maintenance would continue as long as necessary, perhaps until 2160.
2.4.7 Additional Benefits
In addition to the benefits from reducing impacts of global climate change, the modeling and field studies can be used to study effects of land use change on climate. Knowledge gained from this work can also be used in learning how to terraform other planets, such as Mars and reduce the impact of dust storms on earth.
2.4.8 Conclusions
Land surface albedo enhancement is not a substitute for significant action on reducing GHG emissions. There simply isn’t enough land that can be covered to offset all past and future radiative forcing due to anthropogenically produced GHGs. This treatment is simply a delaying tactic to give time for technological innovations for achieving emission reductions to become cost effective and widely used.
