MMAE Seminar - Dr. Rollin Dix - Science and Solutions for the Climate Crisis

Armour College of Engineering's Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering Department will welcome Dr. Rollin Dix, MMAE Professor Emeritus, on Wednesday, September 25th, to present his lecture, Science and Solutions for the Climate Crisis.

Abstract

When averaged over the year, approximately one watt/m2 more of carbon dioxide (CO2) arrives than leaves. Reducing CO2 production to slow global warming takes years. Reflecting solar energy back into space will keep the temperature down in the meantime.

In this talk I show that CO2 is causing the problem and then describe ways to reduce its release:

• Paris accords to reduce GHG adopted by many countries, cities and companies,
• Plant a trillion trees to absorb CO2,
• Canada's carbon fee and citizen dividend legislation of 2019,

or to block the sun:

• Spray seawater into the air from ships creating reflective clouds,
• Construct a tethered balloon tube system or use airplanes to spray SO2 into the stratosphere to create sunlight reflecting droplets,
• Place a layer of glass beads on the arctic ice sheet to prevent it melting in the summer.

Biography

Professor Dix received a PhD specializing in heat transfer from Purdue in 1962 and joined the IIT faculty in 1964. During the following 40 years he conducted research, taught mechanical design, especially CAD and CAM courses, and consulted with many engineers and lawyers concerning design, manufacturing and patents.