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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Noel de Leon who wrote (182307)	2/22/2006 12:34:52 PM
From: neolib	Respond to of 281500

You have to answer the following: Is the earth gaining, losing, or neutral with respect to total energy? On the surface, we lose energy. That is a very simple deduction from heat transfer and realising the core is hotter than the surface. So despite the Sun's hard work, we net lose energy to space. Some of the cores energy is no doubt attributable to tidal heating from the Sun, so... The total energy contribution from fossil fuel consumption is not significant as far as the planet goes. It amounts to about 1 hour of solar energy input per year. What is much more of a factor is what the atmosphere, land surface, and ocean surface do in capturing or reflecting solar energy. So the effect of burning all those fossil fuels is more important as a secondary effect than a primary effect.