On Sun, Aug 5, 2012 at 12:26 PM, Terry Blanton <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sat, Aug 4, 2012 at 3:14 PM, David Roberson <[email protected]> wrote: > >> It seems apparent that the final global consideration is that extra heat is >> released into the atmosphere, land, and water of the earth as a result of us >> burning fossil fuels. > > No one responded because your basic premise is incorrect. It is not > the heat generated by the burning of fossil fuels that is the problem. > It is the albedo of the earth and the reflectivity of the upper > atmosphere. See: > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect > > The energy falling on earth from the sun is far greater than the heat > of mankind.
I see Jed beat me to it. Anyway here's a little more: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/phyopt/albedo.html "Albedo The term albedo (Latin for white) is commonly used to applied to the overall average reflection coefficient of an object. For example, the albedo of the Earth is 0.39 (Kaufmann) and this affects the equilibrium temperature of the Earth. The greenhouse effect, by trapping infrared radiation, can lower the albedo of the earth and cause global warming." <more> The hyperphysics page from Georgia State University if a fountain of knowledge. Amazing from what I always thought of as a urban business college. T
