Halon dumps: a data point

From: Clint Wolff <vaxman_at_uswest.net>
Date: Thu Sep 14 18:02:30 2000

I've always wondered about the claim that CO2 causes global warming...

Mars' atmosphere is mostly CO2, but Mars isn't warm....

Perhaps a more accurate question to ask is:

What is the effect of all the sources of heat (new and old) that we
are currently using? Almost every(*1) megawatt, gigawatt, petawatt that
is generated in the world is turned into heat eventually. In addition,
we are burning fossil fuels that captured the energy of the sun millions
of years ago, and releasing that energy as well.

How much power is required to heat the ocean by 1 degree C? At our
current (exponentially increasing) rate of consumption of energy,
how long will it take to heat the ocean?

If some idiot actually devises a scheme for cold fusion, how long
will it take for the human race to cook itself?

clint

(*1) A very small amount of energy is used to convert small molecules
into larger molecules. This energy isn't converted to heat until the
molecules are broken down at a later time.
Received on Thu Sep 14 2000 - 18:02:30 BST