Print 31 comment(s) - last by overlandpark4m.. on Jan 30 at 7:34 PM

Despite having little impact on global mean temperatures, waste heat may alter weather significantly

A diverse team of researchers from Scripps Institution of OceanographyUniversity of California, San Diego (UCSD); Florida State University (FSU); and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) have teamed up to examine the long term effects of waste heat on local surroundings.

I. Waste Heat Shifts Temperature Balance

Urban heat originates from a variety of sources -- buildings with central heating, power plants, cars, and more.  Human machines dump waste heat into the environment on a large scale locally.  But globally waste heat is only estimated to account for around 0.3 percent of the total heat transported across higher latitudes by atmospheric or oceanic circulation, bumping temperatures by a mere 0.01 degrees C (about 0.02 degrees F).

The "urban heat island" effect -- local warming from waste heat -- is well known.  But the research team suspected that waste heat might have longer-range effects too, effects that might be masked by the global trend.  They dug into the issue and developed models that suggest that waste may indeed have longer-range impact, in addition to the urban heat island effect.

The new, more detailed smaller-scale models show that waste heat from cities may heat up northern regions of North America and Asia by as much as 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in the winter.  The heating effects can be felt up to 1,000 miles away from their source, the simulations showed.  At the same time, the North American/Asian heating is coupled with a 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) cooling effect in Europe, which is forcing cooler winters.

Waste Heat
Waste heat is warming North America and Asia's north, while cooling the European north.
[Image Source: Ecofriend]

NCAR researcher Aixie Hu comments, "The burning of fossil fuel not only emits greenhouse gases but also directly affects temperatures because of heat that escapes from sources like buildings and cars.  Although much of this waste heat is concentrated in large cities, it can change atmospheric patterns in a way that raises or lowers temperatures across considerable distances."

II. What Can be Done?

Humans by and large produce much less waste heat than nature (respiration itself, the process by which living organisms harvest energetic chemicals to drive the processes of life, puts off a fair deal of waste heat).  But many human cities happen to be located directly under jet stream troughs, which causes the localized impact to be amplified.

Globally in 2006 energy consumption globally was estimated to have occurred at an average of 16 terawatts (TW).  The 86 largest metropolitan areas in the Northern Hemisphere are estimated to have consumed 6.7 TW of that total.

Urban heat map
U.S. urban centers often sit under jet stream troughs. [Image Source: Blue Moon/Panoramio]

The study is arguably less about prevention, and more about understanding and coping with mankind's localized impact on weather/climate.  After all, you can't reasonably ask people to turn off the heat in the winter or stop driving (even EVs put off waste heat).

But perhaps future urban expansion can be guided by models that place new construction in areas that suck less of the waste heat into the jet stream or alternatively suck up more in regions that are currently being cooled.

Additionally materials may be able to recapture some waste heat, decreasing the global output, while at the same time lowering costs. (But such materials are still in their very nascent stages.)

The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Climate Change.

Sources: UCAR [press release], Nature Climate Change [abstract]

Comments     Threshold


RE: I suggested this
By Ammohunt on 1/28/2013 4:15:45 PM , Rating: 1
Sure but i would sooner believe this type of warming affecting localized weather patterns (rather than climate) mostly likely being more pronounced during solar maxims like we are experiencing now. All i am saying is this is an interesting study with something that can be studied locally compared to global climate change which amounts to speculation. Might help partly explain the heat domes over the midwest we experienced last summer.

RE: I suggested this
By JediJeb on 1/28/2013 8:17:00 PM , Rating: 2
If you compare the number of large cities in the northern hemisphere to the number in the southern hemisphere, there are a lot more in the north. Also don't the warming trends tend to be showing more warming in the north than in the south? Would that not suggest that possibly urban warming is influencing global warming or the appearance of global warming?

