I had been wondering about this issue for long time and had forgotten about it for a while, until I heard a news story on radio that was related to it.
and the issue that i was wondering about is...
from one of the basic theories of physics, energy cannot be created or destroyed, but can only be transformed from one type to another. ok.
what is the main source of energy on the earth? the sun, mostly in form of heat.
solar panels... in simple form, they take solar energy and turn it into electric energy.
the energy that we get from the sun is finite, i presume, isn't it?
so, if some part of this energy is sent on turning into electric energy now, does that mean if we have enough solar panels it will result in global cooling as this energy will be subtracted from the energy that is used to heat up the earth?
the story that i heard on radio was talking about wind-powered generators and how they can potentially become an obstacle for airflow and thus have effect on global climate, more precisely warmer climates in equatorial regions and cooler climate in polar regions.
any ideas?