FAQ

We're using balloons to launch reflective clouds into the stratosphere.

Unless we reflect sunlight (albedo enhancement), 10s of millions of people will die and 20%+ of species may go extinct. We're using the most effective way to reflect sunlight that we've found and can afford to deploy (<$50k startup cost). 

We're copying nature, in 1991 Mt. Pinatubo, a stratovolcano cooled the Earth by 0.9F or 0.5C for over a year.

Depending on the altitude and latitude at which we release them, between six months and three years.

Shorthand is that "a gram offsets a ton:" one gram of sulfur delivered to 20km altitude creates as much radiative forcing as one ton of CO₂ released in the atmosphere does in a year. There's a lot of uncertainty and assumptions here (including a 3x difference among IPCC scientists on global warming per unit CO₂ ). As we perform more releases, we'll learn a lot more about our efficacy. However, uncertainty isn't an excuse for inaction.

They are not water vapor, so in a technical sense no. In a "cloud of dust" sense, they are ;)

Yes, our method to cool Earth falls under the Weather Modification Act of 1976 and report yearly to NOAA of our deployments as required. When we do the deployments, we contact the proper authorities. For example, we notify the FAA when we deploy a balloon to issue a Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM). We've been in contact with multiple US government agencies (CIA, FBI, FAA, and NOAA). They are aware of our business and activities.

Any human-caused release of carbon dioxide is geoengineering: the earth is a bit warmer for every flight you take. We think it's wrong to suddenly draw a line at the stratosphere: we screwed up the atmosphere, and now we have a moral obligation to fix things!

We absolutely should do these and every other effective carbon reduction + clean energy measure. However, we also need to immediately cool the world. Even if we magically stopped all carbon emissions right now, we'd still likely hit 2.3C! Given that greenhouse gas emissions increase every year, we need to start cooling the world immediately.

And we would like an equitable future with breathable air and no wet bulb events for generations to come. Convince us there's a more feasible way to buy us the time to get there and we'll stop. We'll happily debate anyone on this, just confirm an audience of at least 200 people and we'll find the time to try and convince you 😉

We have. 😉 Others have tried from academia but were canceled due to well-intentioned but misguided activism and patent disputes. 

Maybe! We have no religion about how we produce the cooling we need and want the most cooling per $ we can safely + quickly achieve. Personally, we lack the $B+ startup costs (and substantial political capital) for these other methods. If you or your government are credibly attempting to build one of these, we'd be happy to collaborate!

We fly instrumentation (GPS, cameras, and other sensors) with our balloons to verify that the payload reached the stratosphere. As we scale up deployments we can use satellites that can detect SO2 from volcanic eruptions to measure the efficacy of our deployments.

We can create sufficient cooling to offset this year's new warming for ~$30M per year: $7M of sulfur + deployment costs.

Less than $50B per year: ~$12B of sulfur + deployment costs.

No: it's likely much worse. We're very unlikely to stop mining proven petroleum reserves, and even the worst-case IPCC projections of 4C by the year 2100 don't include any massive natural releases of greenhouse gases (tundra methane, etc.). We need to act now to cool the world!  

Modeling shows a slight but meaningful depletion in ozone. While we'll closely monitor this, it's important to note that worst-case scenarios for ozone depletion amount to 5-10% on average. This is less than half of what CFCs caused and may be at least partially offset by reduced global warming's positive impact on ozone.

The concentration of SO2 needed in the stratosphere to offset all man-made warming is less than the amount of SO2 commonly added to a bottle of wine to preserve it.

Check out this article on the amount of SO2 we need to cool Earth and not create acid rain.

None: we're only addressing the warming impact of carbon. Efforts to decarbonize are essential, and directly cooling the world is NOT a substitute. We need to do both to maintain a livable world.

Preliminary modeling actually shows the opposite: a ~10% net increase.

100 people benefit from and 1 person is harmed if we deploy enough to cool the Earth by 1C.

Source: "Towards Quantitative Comparison of the Risks and Benefits of Solar Geoengineering." by Dr. David Keith.

Go here! If you're a company looking to offset your CO₂ equivalent emissions and purchase more than 1,000 Cooling Credits, please email andrew@makesunsets.com with your company email for bulk pricing. 

As of October 2024, we've completed 90 deployments for over 600 customers. Just two people have cooled 64,655 ton-years of CO2 which approximately 3,074,047 trees would need to be planted and last for a year, assuming each mature tree absorbs about 21 kilograms of CO2 per year.

We are currently using helium as a lift gas because it's safer than hydrogen in storage. As we increase the frequency and size of our deployments it makes fiscal and sustainability sense to switch to hydrogen.

We follow Y Combinator's mantra: Make Something People Want. We've made this, and now we need to prove people want it. The most helpful way to get involved is to buy now.

Introductions to companies that want to purchase larger quantities of cooling credits and/or countries interested in hosting balloon launch sites would both be very helpful.

Here a video of what it looks like when the balloon pops in the stratosphere. When the balloon reaches the stratosphere and bursts, most of the material remains attached to the telemetry system, and the parachute deploys to gently return it to Earth. As the payload descends, we track it using GPS to retrieve and reuse the telemetry equipment. We also include an email address on the payload, offering a reward if someone finds it before we do.

We use biodegradable, natural latex balloons—the same type that weather services around the world use twice daily for weather forecasting. In the future, we’re developing a GPS-guided drone system that will allow the payload to automatically return to the deployment site, eliminating the need to burn fuel while retrieving the equipment.