does anyone know how much weight in hydrocarbons (oil, coal, natural gas) the world pump from the ground annually? How much of that is burned and released into the atmosphere? How much is that compared to the total mass of the atmosphere? how much of an increase in "green house gas" will it take to increase the average temperature to say.. 1F degrees?
I don't want to get into another global warming thread... but I'm interested in the numbers.
as far as electric power, I think the wave of the future is decentralized power generation. Smaller natural gas power plants, supplemented by rooftop solar and wind generation. Less transmission losses, smaller initial investment, less chance of catastrophic failures and energy price fluctuation.