Earth's Energy Budget

Earth's Energy Budget

The Earth can be considered as a physical system with an energy budget that includes all gains of incoming energy and all losses of outgoing energy. The planet is approximately in equilibrium, so the sum of the gains is approximately equal to the sum of the losses. All energy use results in waste heat. In order to use more total energy than presently and without raising the Earth's average temperature, that additional energy must be compensated for by using only sources that would otherwise have been wasted. For example, fusion power is a possible source of new power and will therefore exceed the Earth's energy budget, whereas increasing our use of solar voltaic energy is compensated by simultaneously cooling the land beneath the solar panels.

Note on accompanying images: The figure opposite depicts only net energy transfer. There is no attempt to depict the role of greenhouse gases and the exchange that occurs between the Earth's surface and the atmosphere or any other exchanges.