That light energy will be absorbed and converted to heat. Then it will radiate out into space as infrared thermal radiation. It will travel in that form for a long time, once it gets out of the Earth's atmosphere. The same thing happens to energy converted to heat by friction in the turbines, etc.
How easily the infrared can escape the Earth depends on what gases are in the atmosphere. Adding CO2 slows down the flow and thus causes the Earth to warm up.
Mike W.
(published on 03/06/2016)
