Thanks for the improvement on the history.
The longer wavelengths are less energetic than the shorter. Sunlight is "white", all wavelengths represented. The surface re-radiates mostly in the infra-red range ("heat"). The photon re-radiated by the air molecule cannot be shorter (more energetic) than the one absorbed. The law of conservation of energy must be obeyed.
The GH effect works because the matter introduces a time factor, a delay, in the situation. It insulates. A house is kept warm by better insulation, not because it generates heat, but because it delays the heat loss to the outside air.
Even if we introduce the concept of resonance, I don't see how it expalins the problem. Resonance doesn't generate extra energy either, it just concentrates it. Mico-wave ovens are "tuned" to the H2O molecule so that most of the energy input goes to them and not to the air or walls of the oven.
If the earth's radiant loss is tuned to CO2, then it just means less energy goes to the other molecules, but the total energy absorbed by the air remains the same.
Beuhler? Anybody???
