Copenhagen consensus on climate

In 2009, the Copenhagen consensus on climate assembled a panel consisting of five economists to consider the foremost solutions to the issue of climate change and global warming, and prioritize the solutions based on variables such as cost and efficiency. The number one ranked solution was titled An Analysis of Climate Engineering as a Response to Climate Change and was written by Dr. Eric J Bickel and Lee Lane. This solution basically entails that a fleet of unmanned wind-powered ships would be used to conduct marine cloud whitening. Marine cloud whitening is a process by which seawater droplets are sprayed into marine clouds to make them reflect more sunlight. The ships would draw water from the ocean to produce plumes of seawater mist that would whiten the clouds and effectively reflect about 1 to 2 percent of sunlight that would otherwise be fixed on the ocean, adding to its temperature. The cost of this project was estimated to cost $9 billion, which is very low compared to the amount of money spent by nations to reduce carbon emissions. Some of the other highly ranked solutions include launching fine material into the stratosphere to scatter and absorb sunlight, and launching tiny transparent screens into space that would focus a small amount of the sun's light away from Earth. The list of rankings can be found here as well as summaries of proposed solutions: http://fixtheclimate.com/component-1/the-result-prioritization/#at