Heat Sink Planet

One of our favorite phrases w/ which to condemn all humanity to the hell it so richly deserves (Old & bitter? Us?) is "You'll all be boiling in a stew of your own waste before you know it."

Now, scientific proof thereof!

Alright, the Earth has only one mechanism for releasing heat to space, and that’s via (infrared) radiation. We understand the phenomenon perfectly well, and can predict the surface temperature of the planet as a function of how much energy the human race produces. The upshot is that at a 2.3% growth rate (conveniently chosen to represent a 10× increase every century), we would reach boiling temperature in about 400 years. [Pained expression from economist.] And this statement is independent of technology. Even if we don’t have a name for the energy source yet, as long as it obeys thermodynamics, we cook ourselves with perpetual energy increase.

Stew in that for a while.