3 ms·

I wonder what affects we might have when cooling the earth (ground). Smacks of the same sort of hubris that we couldn't possibly warm the earth. I guess conserv

I wonder what affects we might have when cooling the earth (ground). Smacks of the same sort of hubris that we couldn't possibly warm the earth. I guess conservation of energy is a hard concept to comprehend.

Aachen 2y ago
This sounds rather dismissive that anyone could have thought about this. I never looked up what effect this has either (in my defense, I'm not a user of this type of energy), but that doesn't make me conclude conservation of energy is hard to comprehend
- simplysublime 2y ago
  [flagged]
mbrumlow 2y ago
Also. What are the effects of brining that heat up to the atmosphere? One day humans will realize that their existence and energy use will always have an environmental impact.
thomasmg 2y ago
In many places it makes sense to heat the earth (yes) in summer using the heat pump (using electricity from photovoltaics) so that efficiency in winter is better.
lkbm 2y ago
Not guaranteeing I got these conversions correct, but I believe the rough estimate for the thermal energy of the Earth is on the order of 10^31 Joules.[0] while the rough estimate for human energy use is 10^20 Joules per year.[0] So if we switched to 100% geothermal (a few orders of magnitude more than we're actually discussing using), we'd be using on the order of a hundred trillionth of the energy per year? [0] https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/51920/amount-of-thermal-energy-in-the-earth https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/51920/amount-of-... [1] https://ourworldindata.org/energy-production-consumption https://ourworldindata.org/energy-production-consumption
- Tadpole9181 2y ago
  This also ignores that the Earth already has a flux of 50TW per year, so it's only an increase of about 40% (and even less, when you consider that intentional extraction would slow the flux of all surface area above it). Not only that, but Earth's internal heat is being renewed constantly via things like radioactive isotopes and tidal forces.
  - giantg2 2y ago
    So what happens if we slow that flux? That's spread across the globe. What's the impact if those numbers are localized? Radioactivity and tidal forces create a fixed amount a heat and that heat dissipates at a given rate, right? So what happens if we change that rate of dissipation/extraction? The point is, it's all handwavy. Seems familiar to just about everything we've done before - fossil fuels, plastics, PFAS...
    - Tadpole9181 2y ago
      You do know we actively use geothermal plants right now, right? It has almost no effect? Let alone compared to the effect of climate change. The biggest concerns are specific techniques for pumping water, which (sometimes) can cause small earthquakes.
      - giantg2 2y ago
        You seem to be missing the point.

Aachen 2y ago

This sounds rather dismissive that anyone could have thought about this. I never looked up what effect this has either (in my defense, I'm not a user of this type of energy), but that doesn't make me conclude conservation of energy is hard to comprehend

simplysublime 2y ago
[flagged]

mbrumlow 2y ago

Also. What are the effects of brining that heat up to the atmosphere? One day humans will realize that their existence and energy use will always have an environmental impact.

thomasmg 2y ago

In many places it makes sense to heat the earth (yes) in summer using the heat pump (using electricity from photovoltaics) so that efficiency in winter is better.

lkbm 2y ago

Not guaranteeing I got these conversions correct, but I believe the rough estimate for the thermal energy of the Earth is on the order of 10^31 Joules.[0] while the rough estimate for human energy use is 10^20 Joules per year.[0] So if we switched to 100% geothermal (a few orders of magnitude more than we're actually discussing using), we'd be using on the order of a hundred trillionth of the energy per year? [0] https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/51920/amount-of-thermal-energy-in-the-earth https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/51920/amount-of-... [1] https://ourworldindata.org/energy-production-consumption https://ourworldindata.org/energy-production-consumption

Tadpole9181 2y ago
This also ignores that the Earth already has a flux of 50TW per year, so it's only an increase of about 40% (and even less, when you consider that intentional extraction would slow the flux of all surface area above it). Not only that, but Earth's internal heat is being renewed constantly via things like radioactive isotopes and tidal forces.
- giantg2 2y ago
  So what happens if we slow that flux? That's spread across the globe. What's the impact if those numbers are localized? Radioactivity and tidal forces create a fixed amount a heat and that heat dissipates at a given rate, right? So what happens if we change that rate of dissipation/extraction? The point is, it's all handwavy. Seems familiar to just about everything we've done before - fossil fuels, plastics, PFAS...
  - Tadpole9181 2y ago
    You do know we actively use geothermal plants right now, right? It has almost no effect? Let alone compared to the effect of climate change. The biggest concerns are specific techniques for pumping water, which (sometimes) can cause small earthquakes.
    - giantg2 2y ago
      You seem to be missing the point.