Quote Originally Posted by factotum View Post
I think the quickest answer to this question is "everybody dead". There is no energy conversion that is 100% efficient, so if you are inputting a near-unlimited amount of energy to run things, the losses and inefficiencies in that process will dump extra heat into the atmosphere and gradually raise the planet's temperature to the point where humans can't survive anymore.
This should be negligible. It isn't significantly different from burning fossil fuels at a rate far higher than they are being created. However, it's *just* waste heat, and not adding an insulation effect the way greenhouse gasses do. So, it should represent a net improvement over the current status quo.

Yeah, it might be marginally higher than no energy use, but it's certainly less warming than most commonly employed methods by a ludicrous factor.

Furthermore, the earth isn't a closed energy system. Waste heat can and does escape. It's like having a hotter fire instead of building a house with insulation. There'll be some additional warmth, but it isn't going to stick around.

So, at least at anything vaguely close to current population levels, it's not a problem at all.

Now, what happens as a result of problem being sucked out of the big bang way back in time...no idea. Sky's the limit there.