Steam Engine

We waste enough heat per year to melt many 1000's of km³ of ice

Humanity's total energy consumption in 2004 was 4.71 x 10²⁰ J = 1290 x 10¹⁵ J per day ([w04]??).

Humanity's energy consumption is increasing about 4% per year. It will thus be around 6.2 x 10²⁰ J = 1.72 x 10¹⁴ kWh per year in 2015. That is enough heat to melt 1860km³ of ice to water. All energy produced in all power plants is finally left in the environment as Q. This includes friction, resistance heating, line losses, electro-smog and the like. Assuming that global warming started in 1870 and progressed linearly since, then the total Q released into the environment by the energy industry since then, and until 2015, is about 4.5 x 10²² J or 12.5 x 10¹⁵ kWh.

It is assumed here that the 4.71 x 10²⁰ J consumed in 2004 include waste. If that is not so, the anthropogenic global warming data presented here seriously under-estimate the phenomenon. This is almost certainly the case for nuclear energy consumption.

Nuclear power plants are less efficient than fossil fuel power stations. They transform less of the Q produced inside them into electric power than fossil fuel power stations do. Besides, only about 10% of the total Q released by the nuclear fuel rods is used inside these stations. The rest goes straight into the environment when the used rods are left to cool in basins and final storage depots. This nuclear waste Q is never included in global warming energy totals.