the Human affect?

[saabtech]

i have posted a similar statement in other threads but i have revised it to give the benefit of the doubt in as many variables as possible. now i am no scholar but i have spent allot of time and energy in double checking the figures, so if a mistake in calculation or content is made please inform me of the correction.
lets see what you think?

Question: What is the comparison of how much energy humans consume each day vs what the sun adds to the earth each day?

According to the US Energy Information Administration, the world used ~490 x 10^15 BTUs OR 500 x 10^18 Joules in 2008, which converts to 1.584 x 10^13 watts per year or 4.34 x 10^10 watts per day.

According to Wikipedia and their references from Statistical Review of World Energy 2009, BP Oil Corporation, a total of 15 terawatts or 1.504 × 10^13 watts OR 15,040,000,000,000 watts per year are used by humans. That equates to 42,200,000,000 watts or 4.22 x 10^10 watts used by humans per day.

According to recognized studies of Charles Greeley Abbot and a quote from Wikipedia, “the Earth receives 174 Petawatts (PW) of incoming solar radiation (insolation) at the upper atmosphere. (solar constant) Approximately 30% is reflected back to space while the rest is absorbed by clouds, oceans and land masses.” In context, 176 PW or 1.760×10^17 or 176,000,000,000,000,000 watts per day hit the Earths atmosphere and if 30 percent of that is reflected, 1.23 X 10^17 watts per day enter our world.
So humans consume about 3.43 x 10^-7 or 0.000000343% or 0.0% relative to what enters our atmosphere every day.
1 BTU = 1060 JOULES
1 JOULE PER SEC = 1 WATT
A REAL YEAR IS 365.25 DAYS
1 YEAR = 31557600 SECONDS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_ene...y_from_the_Sun

[saabtech]

sorry. i corrected every power of 10^?
the exponential symbol was missing somehow "^"

[Richard]

lets see what you think?

I think you answered your own question lol.

[brewercm]

lets see what you think?

The sky is falling.

[hobogato]

The sky is falling.

it can't, there is too much CO2 holding it up!

[saabtech]

that is it? sarcasm?

[txg8gxp]

You forgot to carry the 1...hahahaha j/j

[tebstan]

ok, its really late and thats lots of numbers... but I get the gist, I think. Compared to the energy that comes into the atmosphere, we humans really don't use squat. So in a cosmic sense it balances out?

But... this doesn't seem quite like a direct comparison. It's the type of energy we consume and the damage we do with it. We are using mostly non-renewable (relatively) energy sources. The energy entering the atmosphere from the sun isn't something we harness with any efficiency. Yet.

[hobogato]

that is it? sarcasm?

sorry kevin, i was not trying to make light of your efforts. i do appreciate the calculations, and it is interesting to see how little we actually consume compared to the amount of energy the sun provides. i do think that to really talk about the effect humans have on the earth, we have to look at more than just energy consumption.

[tebstan]

It certainly shows how wasteful we are of the absolute best natural (and renewable!) resource out there. All this bickering around the country and around the world about energy and oil... that energy and money would be better off finding more efficient ways of doing things.

I'd like to say I appreciate the effort to clarify the facts and list sources. This is a heavy topic--emotionally and intellectually. Saying "I agree" doesn't further the dialogue. Even if someone doesn't agree, no reasonable discussion can occur without listing sources and facts. With opinion only, it can degenerate from debate to argument.