Can the Infrared Radiation that Causes the Enhanced Greenhouse Effect Be Put to Better Use?

Abstract

Increasing levels of certain greenhouse gases (GHGs), most importantly CO2 in the earths atmosphere, lead to climate change and global warming as a result of these gases interacting with thermal infrared (TIR) radiation from earth to space. Here, the option of modifying this radiation is analyzed which would result in modified TIR radiation that would interact less with atmospheric CO2. This alleviates the enhanced greenhouse effect, and at the same time would allow for energy recovery as heat and/or power. Power production is, of course, limited by thermodynamics Second Law. It is shown that various options exist for TIR radiation modification which may be used to generate temperature gradients or temperature differences between volumes of (gases containing) CO2 of sufficient optical thickness. This may be further exploited for power generation: a first, simple case shows power generation of ∼1 W per m2 surface at a Carnot efficiency of ∼7%, using the sky and ground level surroundings as heat reservoirs.