<p>I don't fully get the rationale of your energy budget analogy. Nevertheless, the main question is easy to address.
The Earth's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_temperature" rel="nofollow noreferrer">effective radiating temperature</a> is -21°C and its emissivity approximately 0.96 (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_temperature#Earth_Effective_Temperature" rel="nofollow noreferrer">source</a>). Plugging all that on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan%E2%80%93Boltzmann_law" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Stefan–Boltzmann law</a>, you get that Earth's atmosphere sends energy out to outer space at a rate of 220 $W/m^2$, totalling for the whole Earth approximately $112 \times 10^{15}$ or 112 PW (Peta Watts). Over a year that means approximately $3.5 \times 10^{24}$ J.</p>

<p>That should be a very good approximation, but small variations due to climate natural variability and climate change are very important to know the exact Earth's energy budget. That's why many satellites have dedicated instruments to measure this value. One good example is the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/noaas-dscovr-nistar-instrument-watches-earths-budget/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">NISTAR radiometer</a> onboard  of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Space_Climate_Observatory" rel="nofollow noreferrer">DSCOVR</a>.</p>

<p>It is important to know that the above figure ignores the energy reflected from the Sun. But when considering the energy budget that energy is accounted by Earth's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albedo" rel="nofollow noreferrer">albedo</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-13T22:25:39.170Z
Awesome!! Thanks for your thorough answer. 
Agent Questo
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-12T05:15:50.057Z
2018-04-12T05:26:37.710Z
2018-04-12T05:26:37.710Z
Camilo Rada
<p>If we had a heat bank account (the atmosphere)<br />
          + heat cash supply (ice)<br />
          + heat debt (the oceans)</p>

<p>could governments find a way to balance our heat economy that doesn't kill everything? I think I'd rather have Mother Nature fix it, but we need to be ready for her mood swings (hurricanes, wind storms, waves).</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-12T05:29:59.830Z
I've answered below the question on the title. However, an initially clear question becomes unclear with you text. I would suggest rephrasing it. Also consider that heat can't be measured in Kelvin, so you can't expect an answer in Kelvin.
Camilo Rada
<geology><atmosphere><climate-change>
At what rate does Earth's atmosphere shed heat into space?
Agent Questo
# At what rate does Earth's atmosphere shed heat into space?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-04-12)

If we had a heat bank account (the atmosphere)  
+ heat cash supply (ice)  
+ heat debt (the oceans)

could governments find a way to balance our heat economy that doesn't kill everything? I think I'd rather have Mother Nature fix it, but we need to be ready for her mood swings (hurricanes, wind storms, waves).

**Tags:** geology, atmosphere, climate-change

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I've answered below the question on the title. However, an initially clear question becomes unclear with you text. I would suggest rephrasing it. Also consider that heat can't be measured in Kelvin, so you can't expect an answer in Kelvin.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-04-12. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

I don't fully get the rationale of your energy budget analogy. Nevertheless, the main question is easy to address.
The Earth's [effective radiating temperature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_temperature) is -21°C and its emissivity approximately 0.96 ([source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_temperature#Earth_Effective_Temperature)). Plugging all that on the [Stefan–Boltzmann law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan%E2%80%93Boltzmann_law), you get that Earth's atmosphere sends energy out to outer space at a rate of 220 $W/m^2$, totalling for the whole Earth approximately $112 \times 10^{15}$ or 112 PW (Peta Watts). Over a year that means approximately $3.5 \times 10^{24}$ J.

That should be a very good approximation, but small variations due to climate natural variability and climate change are very important to know the exact Earth's energy budget. That's why many satellites have dedicated instruments to measure this value. One good example is the [NISTAR radiometer](https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/noaas-dscovr-nistar-instrument-watches-earths-budget/) onboard of [DSCOVR](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Space_Climate_Observatory).

It is important to know that the above figure ignores the energy reflected from the Sun. But when considering the energy budget that energy is accounted by Earth's [albedo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albedo).

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Awesome!! Thanks for your thorough answer.   

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