With its atmosphere, planet earth prevents it from getting too hot during the day and too cold at night. The radiated solar energy is filtered when it reaches the surface of the earth and is emitted with a delay. This creates a greenhouse-like climate in the lower layers of the atmosphere, where life could develop. Disturbances in the functioning of the greenhouse could severely affect a globally and digitally networked population of billions.
The radiative balance of the earth is subject to fluctuations due to numerous solar, planetary as well as global, ecological and anthropogenic influences, which repeatedly cause climate change.
The so-called greenhouse gases contain similar amounts of kinetic energy per molecule as all other gas molecules in the atmosphere. In addition to the other types of molecules, they store IR quanta in molecular vibrations. They are the only components of air that can radiate heat into space as electromagnetic radiation. A growing CO2 content increases the heat capacity of the air slightly, but at the same time reduces the IR radiation on the earth's surface.
The processes in the heat balance of the atmosphere are extraordinarily complex, making their quantitative assessment difficult. The level of knowledge does not provide a basis for the currently practiced climate protection policy with its serious effects on the economy and life.
