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Global Warming by Geothermal Heat from Fracking: Energy Industry's Enthalpy Footprints
1Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Algarve, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal.
Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)
|September 23, 2022
Summary
Global warming is not caused by CO2 but by increased geothermal conductivity from fracking operations, which enhance heat transfer and enthalpy input. This contradicts the dry adiabatic lapse rate hypothesis and suggests CO2 has a cooling effect.
Area of Science:
- Atmospheric science and thermodynamics
- Climate modeling and global warming
- Geophysics and energy industry impacts
Background:
- The dry adiabatic lapse rate (DALR) hypothesis in climate models is challenged for its inability to explain observed tropospheric lapse rates and its violation of thermodynamic laws.
- The widely accepted greenhouse-gas hypothesis is questioned based on experimental data, suggesting increasing CO2 may have a net cooling effect.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate alternative explanations for observed global warming trends, particularly regional temperature anomalies.
- To evaluate the role of the energy industry, specifically hydraulic fracturing, in regional and global warming.
- To re-examine the thermodynamic principles governing atmospheric temperature changes.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of global temperature difference contours and identification of localized hotspots.
- Correlation of warming hotspots with intensive hydraulic fracturing (fracking) regions.
- Thermodynamic analysis including the 2nd law of thermodynamics and Le Chatelier’s principle.
- Calculation of enthalpy outputs from fuel consumption and electricity usage.
- Examination of the global warming index since 1950 in relation to natural gas usage.
Main Results:
- Observed global warming hotspots correlate strongly with intensive fracking operations, indicating regional warming is caused by increased geothermal conductivity.
- Hydraulic fracturing operations enhance heat transfer and induce seismic activity, leading to irreversible enthalpy input into the lithosphere-atmosphere system.
- The global warming index has increased linearly since the early 1970s, coinciding with the rise in natural gas usage.
Conclusions:
- The DALR hypothesis and the greenhouse-gas hypothesis are insufficient explanations for observed warming; regional warming is driven by geothermal heat from fracking.
- Increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration is suggested to have a net cooling effect, contrary to established climate models.
- Le Chatelier’s principle applied to biosphere dissipation processes and CO2 concentrations helps explain observed global warming statistics, emphasizing energy industry impacts.
Keywords:
atmospheric thermodynamicsenthalpy footprintentropy footprintfrackinggeothermal energyglobal warmingradiation balancetroposphereMore Related Videos
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