How To Reverse Global Warming: 5 of the Most Innovative Ideas Proposed

Technology innovators are trying to figure out how to reverse global warming by weaning humanity off fossil fuels and reducing the impact of greenhouse gases. According to The Washington Post, Silicon Valley has focused on determining how to turn popular clean energy options such as solar, wind or nuclear into a cheap, reliable source of carbon-free power. But other energy sector professionals are suggesting alternative solutions.

Here are five of the most innovative ideas proposed:

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1. Carbon capture and storage: This largely unproven technology essentially takes some of the carbon being burned from traditional fossil fuels such as coal and converts it into a harmless gas underground so that it doesn't enter the atmosphere, reports The Washington Post. The concept has been hailed for decades by some as an essential solution to the climate problem but pilloried by others as unworkable and a dangerous distraction, says National Geographic. The concept is just beginning to be tested at full commercial scale.

2. Carbon recycling: The Washington Post described this as "an outrageous scheme to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and recycle it for fuel, the same way you might recycle plastic bottles or paper." Still, National Geographic said pioneering researchers and entrepreneurs argue the technology is close at hand for recycling carbon monoxide back into fuel for use in today's engines.

3. Mirrors in Space: Lowell Wood, a senior staff scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, recommended to the U.S. government in 2001 that it consider putting up one or more wire-mesh "mirrors" in space for climate change mitigation by deflection of sunlight. The mirrors would seek to deflect sunlight back into space or to filter it.

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4. Solar radiation management: The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo, a volcano in the Philippines, blasted enough fine particles and sulfur dioxide gas into the atmosphere to envelop the earth in a high-altitude cloud for the better part of two months, reports The Washington Post. It added that when scientists checked in 1992, they determined the cloud had deflected enough sunlight to cool the planet by about 1 degree. The Post reported the National Academy of Sciences, conducting research funded by the CIA, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was investigating the possibility of deliberately attempting solar radiation management to try to deal with climate change.

5. Sulfur dioxide: Another potential solution suggested by Harvard University professor David Keith involves spraying the stratosphere with sulfur dioxide particles. According to MIT Technology Review, Keith acknowledged much more research was needed to determine whether the move would have dangerous consequences such as disrupting precipitation patterns or further eating away the ozone laying that protects people from damaging ultraviolet radiation.

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