[cowboysauce]

>doesn't that heat up the Earth's crust and atmosphere more than the previous condition without the hole, therefore contributing to higher temperatures (and climate change)

It's irrelevant when compared to the amount of energy from the sun. World energy consumption is roughly 5.4 * 10^20 Joules per year. This is 86% of the total energy from the sun that hits the Earth in an hour.

It's like worrying over putting a single drop of poison into the ocean.

[jedimastert]

> It's irrelevant when compared to the amount of energy from the sun. World energy consumption is roughly 5.4 * 10^20 Joules per year. This is 86% of the total energy from the sun that hits the Earth in an hour.

Man, every once in a while you remember the scale of energy when you're talking about the sun. Good lord.

[IanCal]

And that's just what hits us, a tiny spec 8 light minutes away.

It outputs our yearly energy usage in about a microsecond, and converts 4 million tons of mass to energy per second.

However, per unit volume, it's putting out energy about the same as a compost heap.