this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2024
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Futurology

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

This shouldn't be downvoted; it's a good point. I actually do expect that in a bright distant future, it would make sense to add artificial heat exchangers to the Earth.

The trick is that vacuum is a really good insulator, and theoretical maximum heat pump efficiency sinks down to "just" 100% gradually as the temperature gap gets larger. In order to move more heat, you have to make the heat exchangers pointed at the night sky hotter, so at some point you're bound to get diminishing returns.