8. Conclusion
To complete our previous analysis that led to reasonably correlate an
estimate of ice imbalance observed between 1994 and 2017 to an estimate
of anthropogenic heat released during the same period of time, it was
shown that heat management on Earth can be compared to the system which
controls the temperature inside a refrigerator. The comparison showed
that water acts as a refrigerant to manage solar and anthropogenic heats
and control the global average environmental temperature and terrestrial
heat accumulation. Thermodynamic characteristics of water and water
interphases applied to data of year 2018 taken as example confirmed that
eAHR was negligible relative to the reported rAHR. Nevertheless, eAHR
was found again sufficient to have caused the melting of a large part of
the lost ices. This finding led to the conclusion that much more ices
should have been lost under the action of the dominant radiative forcing
for 2018. The quantitative comparison between eAHR and rAHR in terms of
thermodynamic exchanges and the finding of discrepancies relative to the
reported temperature and ocean level data led to questioning the
consistency of rAHR estimate. Quantification of thermal exchanges
confirmed the qualitative analysis that led to conclusion that surface
temperature should not change much even in distant future whereas
chaotic events like hurricanes, tornadoes and flooding should increase
already from now in strength and frequency with the increase of AHR
regardless of its origin. In addition, it was emphasized that the
combustion of hydrocarbon-based sources of energy generates new hot
vapor in addition to CO2. Once cooled, this water stored
in oil and gas for millions of year increases the amount of free water
on Earth. However, its estimated amount is still minor compared to the
water generated by ice loss. Whether it can play a role in climate
evolution remains to be studied. Finally, heat-cycle assessment is
proposed to compare the different sources of energy and determine which
ones may replace those currently exploited. Hydrogen seems to be an
interesting candidate if it can be produced by electrolysis with
competitive and acceptable heat-cycle and life-cycle assessments; an
essential condition to respect both the climate and the environment.
Such evaluations will have to be done by suitable interdisciplinary
consortia attempting to understand and to take into account the
complexity of Earth like biologists are doing for the human body.