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There would be trouble even with magical free energy. Before the oil shocks in the seventies, oil production and use was more than doubling every decade. [1] I
by wcoenen 10y ago
There would be trouble even with magical free energy.
Before the oil shocks in the seventies, oil production and use was more than doubling every decade. [1] If that kind of energy growth resumed unabated, then in about 200 years we'd be producing about as much power as the Earth receives from the sun. We'd cook in our own waste heat, no CO2 required.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_industry#/media/File:World_Oil_Production.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_industry#/media/File...
- randyrand 10y agoThat's interesting. I wonder how well we can shoot our waste heat into space? E = mc^2, so convert the energy into mass and shoot it into space?
- wcoenen 10y agoIn principle heat can be gotten rid of with radiators, like the EATCS[1] on the International Space Station. To maximize the heat radiated away, you'd need radiators with as much surface area as possible with an unobstructed view of the sky (no cloud cover). They'd also need to be as hot as possible, because thermal radiation power rises with the 4th power of absolute temperature There have been attempts to detect such thermal radiation from alien civilizations[2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_Active_Thermal_Control_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_Active_Thermal_Contro... [2] https://arxiv.org/abs/1408.1134 https://arxiv.org/abs/1408.1134