Coby Beck wrote:
Dale wrote:
I've had a running argument with my girlfriend concerning the
environmental cost of recent wars. She's an ex-physics teacher, so she
ought to know a few things, but I think she's wrong here. She thinks
that the extreme amounts of energy released in the form of bombs and
jet fuel for military jets is a significant factor in global warming. I
claim, however, that this is really insignificant in comparison to the
amount of energy used by the normal peace-time economy. Certainly, wars
are environmentally damaging in the countries in which they are fought,
but I seriously doubt that they are a major contributer to global
warming. What do people in this newsgroup think?
I don't know but tend to agree that wartime energy use is pretty
insignificant compared to energy use in normal economic activity, but I
do know that both are insignificant in terms of the amounts of energy
moving around the global climate system.
Here, check this quote:
"A fully developed hurricane can release heat energy at a rate of 5 to
20x10^13 watts and converts less than 10% of the heat into the
mechanical energy of the wind. The heat release is equivalent to a
10-megaton nuclear bomb exploding every 20 minutes. According to the
1993 World Almanac, the entire human race used energy at a rate of
10^13 watts in 1990, a rate less than 20% of the power of a hurricane.
"
It's pretty unsettling to think that she is an ex-physics teacher.
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Global Change ("globalchange") newsgroup. Global Change is a public, moderated venue for discussion of science, technology, economics and policy dimensions of global environmental change.
Posts will be admitted to the list if and only if any moderator finds the submission to be constructive and/or interesting, on topic, and not gratuitously rude.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/globalchange
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
