Contribution of Energy Produced by Humanity to Global Warming

Abstract

Civilization has reached such a level of development when the energy produced by humanity (the energy of civilization) begins to become a noticeable addition to the energy of incoming solar radiation. The energy of civilization accumulates in the surface layer, where human activity is concentrated, and dissipates in the form of heat, causing a rise in temperature. An equation is derived to calculate the contribution of civilization’s energy to global warming, which prove to be directly proportional to the accumulated energy of civilization and inversely proportional to the energy of solar radiation on the earth’s surface to the power of three-fourths. The coefficient of proportionality is expressed in terms of fundamental physical constants: Planck’s constant, the speed of light and the Boltzmann constant. It is shown that the contribution of energy of civilization is comparable with the role of increasing concentration of carbon dioxide over the past decades. To mitigate the negative effect, it is necessary to reduce the energy production and partially revise the environmental policy.