Efficiency of solar utilization

20080423 JEDCline

Probably the "big picture" of life's efficiency on earth can be derived by the efficiency of the conversion of the solar energy falling over the whole planet, as it is utilized to churn the flow of life from the tiniest creatures on land and sea up to the top of the food chain ... a cherished place where we humans exist and have our being.

How much of those precious solar energy rays are merely used to heat the planet without first enlivening creatures? How much is just bounced out to space? How much more could be utilized of that high quality energy, as we convert high frequency light down to the low frequency of heat or lower, in the processes of reversing the entropy of substance? And how well can we deliberately send those energy waste product lowered frequency heat waves out into space to minimize global warming?

That could be a measure of life's efficiency on the planet, something civilization might well strive to maximize.