4 ms·
Total human energy consumption is 7.8e20 joules[0]. The heat content of the earth is 1e31 joules[1]. That is a difference of 100 billion times. Safe to say ther
by Invictus0 4y ago
Total human energy consumption is 7.8e20 joules[0]. The heat content of the earth is 1e31 joules[1]. That is a difference of 100 billion times. Safe to say there is not going to be a problem for a very long time.
[0]: https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/climate-change/energy/global-energy-consumption https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/climate-change/ene...
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_gradient https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_gradient
- Karellen 4y agoYeah, but it looks like humans are doubling the amount of energy produced/consumed per year every 30-40 years.[0] If we say it takes 150 years to increase the amount of energy consumed by a factor of 10, then we'll be consuming 100 billion times more energy than we do today in well under 2,000 years. Compared to a human life, that is a very long time. Compared to the time it's going to take for the sun to expand and swallow the earth (which others in the thread are doing), it really isn't. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_supply_and_consumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_supply_and_consum...
- Invictus0 4y agoThere were also roughly 50% fewer people on Earth 40 years ago. The population is expected to peak and then decline in much less than 2000 years.
- yetihehe 4y agoSimple extrapolation is not always effective. "This problem came to a head when in 1894, The Times newspaper predicted… “In 50 years, every street in London will be buried under nine feet of manure.”" [0]. [0] https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Great-Horse-Manure-Crisis-of-1894/ https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Great...