At 7:12 PM 2/9/5, revtec wrote:
>Perhaps the reduction in CO2 emissions will be more than offset by the >waste heat output of billions of CF engines, and that global warming will >accelerate by direct heating alone! Could it be that with perfecting CF >we are about to open pandora's box? The world energy consumpion is about 400 quads, i.e. 400x10^15 BTU = 1.17x10^14 kWh, and is forecast to be about 470 quads in 2010. The world power consumption is thus roughly (1.17x10^14 kWh)/((365 d/y)*(24 h/d)) = 1.34x10^10 kW. The sun puts out roughly a kW/m^2, the earth's radius is 6.38x10^6 m, so the earth presents about 3.2x10^13 m^2 to the sun, thus obtains energy at a rate of about 3.2x10^12 kW from the sun. The total energy consumed is equivalent to a reduction in solar insolation factor by about a half a percent. However, since the energy provided by CF would for the most part *replace* carbon based fuel consumption, it is mostly an offset, thus the effect you are talking about would not occur. If we keep our nuclear plants then it is a full offset. A large reduction in CO2 generation would occur, however. This all assumes the efficiency of CF is similar to heat enigines, or that waste heat is used effectively. The overall efficiency of a CF based system, augmented by solar and wind power, could possibly be much better than our present energy delivery system. Terrestrial solar power, however, as generated by black solar cells, is not efficient at present, and if it covered a significant portion of the earth it could increase global warming by reducing the earth's albedo (the amount of sunlight reflected as a percent of sunlight supplied). Regards, Horace Heffner
