Humanity’s energy consumption has experienced accelerated and exponential growth in the past two centuries. Credit: OurWorldInData.org/Energy Institute – Statistical Review of World Energy (2024)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

...

The idea that civilizations will eventually overheat their planet harkens back to the work of Soviet scientist Mikhail I. Budyko. In 1969, he published a groundbreaking study titled "The effect of solar radiation variations on the climate of the Earth," where he argued that "All the energy used by man is transformed into heat, the main portion of this energy being an additional source of heat as compared to the present radiation gain.

"Simple calculations show that with the present rate of growth, using energy the heat produced by man in less than two hundred years will be comparable with the energy coming from the sun."

This is a simple consequence of all energy production and consumption invariably producing waste heat. While this waste heat is only a marginal contribution to global warming compared to carbon emissions, long-term projections indicate that this could change. As Lingam related to Universe Today via email:

"The current contribution of waste heat to a rise in global temperature is minimal. However, if waste heat production proceeds on an exponential trajectory for the next century, a further 1°C (1.8°F) rise in temperature may stem from waste heat, independent of an enhanced greenhouse effect because of fossil fuels.

more ...