> The big limit that I see on doing this is production of solar panels. At current production rates, covering 10% of the 5 largest subtropical deserts would use about 180 years worth of solar panels.

Yes, that is the problem. It is pie in the sky to believe that's happening any time soon. It would take >20 years before it's making any meaningful dent in emissions.

We're going to keep emitting CO2 at current rates for close to a decade before they really start to drop. You're looking at ~1/3rd of the earth being covered in solar panels and ~15 feet of carbon. Maybe I'm naive. I just can't imagine it.

You think we're going to do that and we can't even build nuclear power plants? That would've mostly solved the problem before it even happened.

And I imagine that would have cost 10,000x less.

> I have no idea if there are enough raw materials available to let us to increase that enough to make it worth considering.

I don't know enough about the materials used for CC, but for solar panels - raw elements is not a problem if you're planning to use 90% of subtropical deserts...