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Environmental thermodynamic limitations on global human population

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  • Viorel Badescu
  • Richard B. Cathcart

Abstract

This paper examines, from a thermodynamic point of view, how many people the Earth can support. The maximum human population allowed by the natural earth ranges from 300 million millions to 1,700 million millions and will not exceed 1,300 million millions if an ambient temperature of 300 K is accepted. A further increase in population number is obtained for macro-engineered earth when heat pumps driven by solar energy have to be used in order to allow heat to be evacuated form the living space towards that part of the earth's surface acting as a radiator. Then, the maximum world population ranges between 1,600 and 4,000 million millions for various cases detailed in the paper.

Suggested Citation

  • Viorel Badescu & Richard B. Cathcart, 2006. "Environmental thermodynamic limitations on global human population," International Journal of Global Energy Issues, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 25(1/2), pages 129-140.
    • Handle: RePEc:ids:ijgeni:v:25:y:2006:i:1/2:p:129-140
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    Cited by:

    1. Ana Paola Vargas & Leon Hamui, 2021. "Thermal Energy Performance Simulation of a Residential Building Retrofitted with Passive Design Strategies: A Case Study in Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-21, July.
    2. Ziwen Liu & Qian Wang & Vincent J.L. Gan & Luke Peh, 2020. "Envelope Thermal Performance Analysis Based on Building Information Model (BIM) Cloud Platform—Proposed Green Mark Collaboration Environment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-22, January.

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