Re:Modernity is incompatible with planetary limits: a PLAN f...
by gnramires on Wednesday September 21, 2022 @09:08PM
(#32933675)
Excerpt:
> At present,
the waste heat term is about four orders
of magnitude smaller than the solar term.
But at a growth factor of ten per century,
they would reach parity in roughly 400
years. Indeed, the surface temperature
of Earth would reach the boiling point
of water (373 K) in just over 400 years
under this relentless prescription. Clearly,
extrapolating our recent — seemingly
modest — 2.3% annual energy growth
very far into the future quickly becomes
ridiculous, and cannot happen.
> This is not intended to suggest that
waste heat is a bigger problem than, say,
climate change from carbon dioxide
emissions (...)
> At present, the waste heat term is about four orders of magnitude smaller than the solar term. But at a growth factor of ten per century, they would reach parity in roughly 400 years. Indeed, the surface temperature of Earth would reach the boiling point of water (373 K) in just over 400 years under this relentless prescription. Clearly, extrapolating our recent — seemingly modest — 2.3% annual energy growth very far into the future quickly becomes ridiculous, and cannot happen.
> This is not intended to suggest that waste heat is a bigger problem than, say, climate change from carbon dioxide emissions (...)