The amount of extra heat from the sun "trapped" by the CO2 from burning
fossil fuels is far more significant than the amount of heat generated from
combusting those fossil fuels because the CO2 has an atmospheric half life
of is significantly longer compared with a dissipating unit of heat. The
heat that we receive from the sun is much greater, and the fossil fuels
help "trap" that heat for many years. I believe the estimates are 0.018
watts/square meter for heat generated by burning fossil fuels, while 2.1
watts/square meter for CO2.
Jeremy
On 5 September 2013 14:33, Philip Veerman <> wrote:
> I have also thought that but I do not understand why more attention is not
> devoted to that what is happening is that the solar energy that was
> absorbed
> into the system for many millions of years and stored as what is now fossil
> fuels, has been largely used and that energy released within about 200
> years, ultimately as heat. Thus it is not just the burning of fossil fuels
> but the unbalance due to millions of years of accumulated solar energy
> being
> released almost instantaneously. Why is that not talked about as a factor
> that impacts on warming?
>
> Philip
>
> -----Original Message-----From:
> On Behalf Of Roger Giller
> Sent: Thursday, 5 September 2013 1:58 PM To: 'Frank O'Connor';
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] the fire
> hazzard
> reduction program
>
>
> Frank,
>
> While agree with your other points I can not let the first one go
> unchallenged.
>
> Burning the bush is only one step in a relatively short term cycle. As it
> grows it sucks up carbon. When it is burnt, or dies and decays, the carbon
> goes back into the atmosphere it came from. If the bush is burnt every X
> number of years then on average nothing changes. (Note that I am only
> referring here to the effect on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, not the
> ecology, which sadly is the loser in all this) The problem with climate
> change is the burning of fossil fuels. They locked up the carbon millions
> of
> years ago. Life as we now know it has evolved to be happy with the
> concentration of carbon dioxide that remained in the atmosphere, until we
> started adding to it by accessing and burning the fossil fuels.
>
> Roger Giller.
>
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