Right now humanity is facing some bad times due to CO2 in our atmosphere trapping excess heat from the sun.

Presumably, a civilisation that was Type I on the Kardashev scale would be capturing all the available solar energy coming in to their atmosphere on purpose and using it to perform some function. But some of that energy would inevitably be transformed into heat due to no technology being 100% efficient.

So, wouldn't a civilisation face catastrophic climate change really before they even got to be a fully Type I civilisation?

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[–] 9 points 1 month ago

The climate would need to be in control for type I civ to exist.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Our planet already captures almost al of that energy and almost all of it becomes heat immediately. Not too much would change climate-wise.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    Well, if the solar panels were outside the atmosphere like some sort of inside out dyson sphere, theoretically, no heat would transfer to the planet. We'd have to ask why anyone would do this, and it seems wildly inefficient, but theoretically it could work.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    Presumably, you would have figured out how to stabilize atmospheric gas concentrations to optimize radiant thermal control before you reach Type 1 or you would cook yourself, yes.

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