Conductor from Earth to space to solve global warming Can we use a conducting rod from Earth to space to cool Earth as heat travels from hot to cold?
As per this website, space on dark side of Earth is -157 degrees Celsius. Let's say we have a conducting rod which expands when it is on the dark side and contracts when on the sunny side (since it is rotating with earth), it should cool off Earth by moving heat to space?
 A: Why use thermal contact when you can use radiative cooling? According to this article the Persians used to make ice in the desert by filling a shallow pool with water and letting the radiative cooling freeze the water over night. At night the water is radiative contact with outer space and since space is much cooler than the water (around 3K) the water will cool down by sending radiation to space.
There are a couple issues with your setup. First of all it is currently impossible to build any structure that extends to space. Secondly there will not be a great amount of conduction at high altitudes since the air is really thin. And as a third point the amount of heat that will be transferred will be miniscule. Similarly to how an industrial oven won't cause the earth to heat up. The total energy that the earth recieves from the sun every year is about 3 850 000 exajoules. To have any significant influence on the global temperature you have to modify the earth's solar input by a number that is at least measured in exajoules (not sure how much you would actually need but that gives you a sense of scales)
