Climate Change: The Shiny Object in the Room

“The consumption of fossil fuels produces CO₂. The dramatic increase in CO₂ in the atmosphere is causing our climate to change, our globe to warm and we will all perish by 2050 if we don’t stop consuming fossil fuels.” This is a paraphrase of the mantra put forth by the Green New Dealers (GNDers) and in turn it has been adopted by the IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The GNDers have part of the equation right; our globe is warming, at least the CERES (Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System) project says so. I agree the globe is warming, but not for the reason stated above. What these folks have wrong is the reason the globe is warming. Substitute “combustion” for “consumption” and you are on the right path. To get CO₂, carbon, C, must be oxidized using atmospheric O₂. The warming of our globe is from this process and has only a marginal tie to CO₂. CO₂ is a marker, not the cause. It is simply a byproduct of the process which provides us our glorious lifestyle. Remember, there is a big difference between correlation and causality. The cause is the combustion; CO₂ just happens to be correlated to the rise in temperature.

Don’t get me wrong. CO₂ is a greenhouse gas, no question. It has a couple of partners in the form of CH₄, H₂O, and to some degree, N₂O. However, its contribution to the warming of the globe via the reflection of radiant energy is so marginal as to almost be “lost in the noise.” The scientific contributors to the IPCC have made the following correlations, in error I might add:
• The globe is warming
• CO₂ is increasing in ppmv in the atmosphere
• The use of fossil fuels to “Fuel” our lifestyle, produces CO₂
• Q.E.D., CO₂ is causing the warming and we must stop using fossil fuels to curtail the growth of CO₂ in the atmosphere.

Every study that I have found always correlates a direct relationship between CO₂ and the heat which causes the globe to warm. In other words, when CO₂ increases, the globe will warm in a direct relationship. All projections are based on this “umbilical” correlation. No one has focused on the fact that the creation of CO₂ generates a boatload of heat and that heat is what causes the increase in the temperature of the globe. Said a different way, the perception is if we were adding heat to the surface of the planet without creating CO₂, then the climate would not warm. This is a blatantly false assumption. “Climate Change; The Shiny Object in the Room” is the investigation into the fact that it is added heat, not CO₂, that is causing global warming.
First, we will explore the historic usage of fossil fuels in both the U. S. and the world. We will show where those resources currently are being utilized, and what we need to do to mitigate their usage. Most importantly, we will show what we can, and can’t, do without, through the substitution of electricity, regardless of how that electricity is generated.

Next, we will address how we are going to generate that additional electricity. It will show the enormous impact on our real estate resources and nation-wide economic stimulus that must be applied in order to implement a program of substitution. There are some real pitfalls that we will encounter that have yet to be addressed, basically due to the other-than-free-market approach being taken to implement the transition. Also demonstrated is how we need to get transparent with our citizens and provide accurate and reliable usage information so that we, the people, can make rational and informed decisions on how we go forward toward the world of the electric car, at least in part. Right now, the Federal Government is in the way.

The next section is devoted to showing how our world is heated and why the increase in CO₂ is not the problem. It provides a probable “heat” history of the Earth going way back. It is the heat generated by the combustion of those fossil fuels and the generation of electrical power using nuclear energy that are the major causes of the warming of the Earth, especially as it pertains to the United States. We focus on planet Earth as it should be viewed; it is a biosphere that has to be in constant equilibrium with all its heat sources. The results of the analysis and complex model that I created show beyond a doubt that we cannot avoid the use of fossil fuels as a source of heat for some time to come. We have to develop proper stewardship of that much needed and indispensable resource presently residing in the crust of our Earth.

In closing, we show what our world will look like once we start to employ other ways to generate our electricity and how we mitigate the less-than-reliable motive forces that we will have to rely upon. It will show that we must gently, rather than precipitously, move away from some, not all, uses of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels still will add CO₂ to the atmosphere, but as you will see, it’s kind of a “so what” issue. Our lifestyles will change dramatically. Our transportation-oriented life will no longer proceed with abandon as we have come to enjoy. We must learn how to utilize our sources of energy more prudently, and not necessarily at times of our convenience. Further, our “cost of operation” is going to increase whether we like it or not.
Our generation, and those who have preceded us have been very lucky. We have had “cheap” energy at our fingertips and never had to worry about the day when it no longer would be there. Well, that day has come, but it ain’t the fault of CO₂.

It saddens me to see the vacant-headed individuals both in D.C. and in the political community world-wide travel down a path of their own making which is causing, and will continue to cause, undue stress on our world population. Let’s relieve that stress by “waking up and flying right.”

Bottom line, it’s all about the HEAT folks; plain and simple.