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I'm surprised of how little potential geothermal has as a sustainable energy source. The total heat flow from the earth is 42 TW, and wikipedia says world energ
by radu_floricica 16y ago
I'm surprised of how little potential geothermal has as a sustainable energy source. The total heat flow from the earth is 42 TW, and wikipedia says world energy consumption in 2008 averaged at 15 TW. We'd need a better then 30% global efficiency to use geothermal exclusively long term. This pretty much makes geothermal non-renewable...
Solar energy on the other hand clocks at 173 petawatts (of which 30% is reflected, so that makes it 120).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earths_energy_budget#Incoming_energy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earths_energy_budget#Incoming_e...
- bobds 16y agoDid that Wikipedia article disappear in the one hour since you've linked to it? EDIT: Never mind, correct link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_energy_budget http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_energy_budget
- radu_floricica 16y agoWe should make it a standard that url's be copy-pastable. Sorry and thank you.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- iwwr 16y agoYou could say that a lot of energy is being wasted because it's converted into heat via simple decay and not fission. Fissioning the available uranium and thorium would produce vastly more power, enough to push the human race up a few more decimal points on the Kardashev scale. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale