Abstract
The role of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) in global warming and climate change is confusing. Experts in greenhouse effects predict that changes in ocean level and atmospheric temperature, which are still presently very small, will increase considerably in distant future. On the other hand, the melting of ices is already dramatic. Greenhouse gases, in particular CO2, are said responsible but do not explain the dominance of ice melting. Nevertheless, the reduction of fossil sources of CO2 is universally recommended. A correlation between ice melting and anthropogenic heat releases was recently proposed on the basis of well-identified chemical and physical fundamentals. To further investigate this original approach, the present contribution compares the management of the fraction of solar heat absorbed on Earth to the thermodynamic cycle used to control the temperature in refrigerators. The discussion shows that absorbed solar heat and anthropogenic heat are managed similarly using water as refrigerant. It is also shown that the combustion of hydrocarbons releases a huge amount of new water on Earth. However, this extra water remains minor compared to the water issued from the ices melt cumulated year by year. The last part proposes to use heat-cycle assessment from cradle to grave as means to compare different energy sources in the search for ways to minimize anthropogenic heat release. Water electrolysis could be a climate- and environment-friendly source of renewable hydrogen-based energy if the required electricity to generate hydrogen can be produced on a large scale with better heat-cycle and life-cycle than traditional sources.