Carbon Dioxide Sources: Not Our Only Concern

Carbon Dioxide sources are not our only cause for concern when considering our impacts on the environment, in particular the atmosphere. The main issue with a build up of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere is its ability to trap heat reflected or emitted from the surface by absorbing it and then radiating it in all directions, including back to the ground. Carbon Dioxide is not the only gas responsible for the Greenhouse effect however. Water vapor contributes up to 70% of this effect even though it is present at much lower quantities than CO2. However, since it is not something we are causing or can change it receives little attention.

A key factor that must be accounted for is the quantity of heat we are producing. Heat and Carbon Dioxide are added to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, and many forms of alternative energy are currently operating in an attempt to address this situation. Unfortunately, several of these energy sources still add to the nett amount of heat in the atmosphere even though they may not be producing gas emissions.

Geothermal energy draws heat from beneath the surface to generate electricity. When that electricity is consumed, it is converted back into heat but that additional heat is now present in the atmosphere rather than beneath the surface.

The same can be said of Nuclear power. The decay of radioactive elements is a natural process that slowly releases energy which ends up as heat. Once we concentrate the radioactive material and use it as a fuel source, we are accelerating that rate of heat loss to the atmosphere above what it would be in the natural situation.

This consideration must also be given to the deployment of space based solar power stations. These would harvest energy that would otherwise pass into space and transmit it to Earth. This is effectively the same as increasing the surface area of the planet in terms of heat absorption.

The effect of all this additional heat in the lower atmosphere would be to increase evaporation from the surface. Given the significance of water vapor as a greenhouse gas, the heat factor from emission free power sources must be considered. We cannot afford to concentrate solely on carbon dioxide sources as a remedy for our environmental problems.

Solar, wind and tidal power are all well developed energy technologies presently available to us that address this problem. All three of these methods extract energy that is already present in the atmosphere or water and convert it to electricity. Solar does this directly from sunlight, wind turbines harvest energy from fast moving air particles, and tidal power converts the motion of water into electricity.

Given the developed world's continually increasing demand for energy, it is important that the role of additional heat production be considered a serious factor when new large scale power plants are being planned.