We present an analytical description of the energetics of the population of
cosmic accretion shocks, for a concordance cosmology. We calculate how the
shock-processed accretion power and mass current are distributed among
different shock Mach numbers, and how they evolve with cosmic time. We
calculate the cumulative energy input of cosmic accretion shocks of any Mach
number to the intergalactic medium as a function of redshift, and we compare it
with the energy output of supernova explosions as well as with the energy input
required to reionize the universe. In addition, we investigate and quantify the
effect of environmental factors, such as local clustering properties and
filament preheating on the statistical properties of these shocks. We find that
the energy processed by accretion shocks is higher than the supernova energy
output for z<3 and that it becomes more than an order of magnitude higher in
the local universe. The energy processed by accretion shocks alone becomes
comparable to the energy required to reionize the universe by z~3.5. Finally,
we establish both qualitative and quantitatively that both local clustering as
well as filament compression and preheating are important factors in
determining the statistical properties of the cosmic accretion shock
population.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, emulateap