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> we probably are warming the world with all of our machines Probably very little compared to GH gases contribution, see here: http://skepticalscience.com/wast
by asgard1024 11y ago
> we probably are warming the world with all of our machines
Probably very little compared to GH gases contribution, see here: http://skepticalscience.com/waste-heat-global-warming.htm http://skepticalscience.com/waste-heat-global-warming.htm
There is a lot of energy coming to the Earth in the form of sunlight. We could power world economy with it many times over.
- ageofwant 11y agoAnd a lot leaving via infra-red radiation, unless of course you trap it somehow.
- valm- 11y agoNote that the greenhouse gases you mention are generated so we can run our machines.
- asgard1024 11y agoI am not sure I follow - this is what AGW theory is saying, that humans cause global warming by running civilization on carbon fuels. I just wanted to address possibly wrong belief of GP that waste heat can be the primary cause of GW.
- saalweachter 11y agoIt is relatively little, but it's actually something like 6%. The rate of change of the Earth's heat content is something like 250TW (on average); humans are currently using/generating around 16TW of energy. For comparison, the Earth's fiery core is about 45TW of radioactive decay and sunlight hitting Earth is about 173PW. Of course, we've historically increased our energy use by around 5% per year, so if that trend held (which you should expect about as much as any other exponential trend holding...), in about 50 years waste heat would begin outweighing greenhouse gasses.