Solar Reflective Covers on Water Reservoirs Suitable for Global Subsidies

Abstract

Reservoir covers reduce evaporation, concentration of salt, and organic growth. If such covers are designed to reflect solar energy to space, subsidies to deploy them may be available. Water reflects a small fraction of incident solar energy and, in places where the sun is intense with few clouds, offer a high potential for reflecting solar energy to space. Satellite data can be used to compute additional megawatts reflected to space from a reflective reservoir cover so that verified cooling credits can be sold, providing funding for a portion of the cost.

This article explores making solar reflective reservoir covers out of glass which would allow the covers to eventually disintegrate into sand when their useful lives are over. For covers in the form of rafts of flexibly connected large tiles made of glass, a specific design is proposed for tile shapes, connecting the tiles together, and connecting them to anchors.

Keywords: Solar Radiation Modification, Reservoir Covers, Evaporation Reduction

JEL Classification: Q25, Q54