14 DAY TRIAL // Global warming, the term that has become so worrying as of late, represents an obvious imbalance between the energy flow and the energy generation in the global climate, which is a result of humans' greenhouse gas emissions and increased releases of heat caused by the energy usage process. The latter concept has not been given much attention until recently, when Nick Cowern and Chihak Ahn from the School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering at Newcastle University in UK discovered its negative potential.
The experts believe that the heat we emit as a result of using or generating energy is actually more dangerous in the long run than the emission of CO2 or other greenhouse types. Based on a scenario developed by James Hansen from Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, which sees greenhouse gas emissions being substantially reduced via coal usage decrease over the next four decades, Cowern and Ahn calculate that the climate should stabilize by 2050.
But not if we consider the heat that the energy process yields, which ultimately gets dissipated in the environment, they say. Although negligible today, this amount may have a bigger impact on climate by the year 2100 than CO2 emissions have now, considering a rate (lower than the one currently recorded) of worldwide energy usage of only 1% per year. Knowing this, we should decide to use the energy sources that generate less heat.
Nuclear power should be ruled out, since it sets free energy (thus, heat) which is normally locked. Solar energy is better, since it involves heat that is received anyway, but the scientists stress on improving light absorption/reflection techniques. The best clean options left are tidal and wind energy, which rely on sources already present, generating the least heat in the energy production process.
Jonathan Gregory, a climate expert from the University of Reading, in UK, admits that "Human energy dissipation is currently small compared with other factors, but you can imagine it becoming much bigger," as New Scientist quotes. But he questions the amount by which the energy production will increase, so that the effect can occur. "It's fair to ask if we could ever produce so much power," he shares.