>From time to time, someone asks me about these issues. For example, someone sent me this comment from a discussion group, and asked how it might be addressed:
". . . global warming is about HEAT - atmospheric gasses like co2 & ch4 tend to cause the atmosphere to retain more of it - however, even if these gasses are no longer produced in such quantities, there would still be MASSIVE amounts of HEAT being injected into the environment from the energy used from "free lunch" processes being inevitably converted into HEAT" Regarding the issue of raw heat and global warming: Global warming is not caused by the heat released from human consumption. This can cause what are called "heat islands" around urban areas, and these do affect the weather. But global warming is caused by CO2 in the atmosphere. We can tell that heat released by human energy consumption does not have a significant effect for two reasons: First, any heat release escapes from the atmosphere in about 40 min. You can tell this is the case because in the desert where there is nothing on the ground and no cloud cover, soon after the sun sets the air turns cold. Second, the total amount of heat released by the human race is small compared to natural forces such as sunlight, forest fires, geothermal heat, and volcanoes. World primary energy consumption is roughly 400 quads per year. The US consumes 100 quads. Solar energy striking the Earth's surface produces roughly 8.2 million quads per year, 20,500 times more than this. See: http://www.ecoworld.com/energy-fuels/how-much-solar-energy-hits-earth.html Regarding cold fusion and global warming, cold fusion can solve the problem completely, as I explained in my book in chapter 9. See: http://lenr-canr.org/acrobat/RothwellJcoldfusiona.pdf As I explain in this chapter, cold fusion will eliminate CO2 emissions caused by energy production. There may be some emissions from other human activity, especially cutting down forests. cold fusion irrigation can be used to reforest large areas especially areas that are now desert. If necessary, cold fusion can be used to actually remove CO2 from the atmosphere, restoring it to the premodern condition. Cold fusion is likely to reduce the total amount of primary energy consumption because it will be more efficient than present-day systems. If we implement cold fusion soon, world primary energy consumption is likely to fall considerably from 400 quads, for a while, at least. Later on perhaps we may implement things like gigantic megaprojects to irrigate deserts, to grow forests and food crops. These projects will consume more primary energy, but overall they will reduce global warming by absorbing atmospheric CO2. - Jed
