Download or read book Energy and Civilization written by Vaclav Smil and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2018-11-13 with total page 564 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society throughout history, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel–driven civilization. "I wait for new Smil books the way some people wait for the next 'Star Wars' movie. In his latest book, Energy and Civilization: A History, he goes deep and broad to explain how innovations in humans' ability to turn energy into heat, light, and motion have been a driving force behind our cultural and economic progress over the past 10,000 years. —Bill Gates, Gates Notes, Best Books of the Year Energy is the only universal currency; it is necessary for getting anything done. The conversion of energy on Earth ranges from terra-forming forces of plate tectonics to cumulative erosive effects of raindrops. Life on Earth depends on the photosynthetic conversion of solar energy into plant biomass. Humans have come to rely on many more energy flows—ranging from fossil fuels to photovoltaic generation of electricity—for their civilized existence. In this monumental history, Vaclav Smil provides a comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel–driven civilization. Humans are the only species that can systematically harness energies outside their bodies, using the power of their intellect and an enormous variety of artifacts—from the simplest tools to internal combustion engines and nuclear reactors. The epochal transition to fossil fuels affected everything: agriculture, industry, transportation, weapons, communication, economics, urbanization, quality of life, politics, and the environment. Smil describes humanity's energy eras in panoramic and interdisciplinary fashion, offering readers a magisterial overview. This book is an extensively updated and expanded version of Smil's Energy in World History (1994). Smil has incorporated an enormous amount of new material, reflecting the dramatic developments in energy studies over the last two decades and his own research over that time.

Download or read book Revolutionary Power written by Shalanda Baker and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2021-01-14 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In September 2017, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, completely upending the energy grid of the small island. The nearly year-long power outage that followed vividly shows how the new climate reality intersects with race and access to energy. The island is home to brown and black US citizens who lack the political power of those living in the continental US. As the world continues to warm and storms like Maria become more commonplace, it is critical that we rethink our current energy system to enable reliable, locally produced, and locally controlled energy without replicating the current structures of power and control. In Revolutionary Power, Shalanda Baker arms those made most vulnerable by our current energy system with the tools they need to remake the system in the service of their humanity. She argues that people of color, poor people, and indigenous people must engage in the creation of the new energy system in order to upend the unequal power dynamics of the current system. Revolutionary Power is a playbook for the energy transformation complete with a step-by-step analysis of the key energy policy areas that are ripe for intervention. Baker tells the stories of those who have been left behind in our current system and those who are working to be architects of a more just system. She draws from her experience as an energy-justice advocate, a lawyer, and a queer woman of color to inspire activists working to build our new energy system. Climate change will force us to rethink the way we generate and distribute energy and regulate the system. But how much are we willing to change the system? This unique moment in history provides an unprecedented opening for a deeper transformation of the energy system, and thus, an opportunity to transform society. Revolutionary Power shows us how.

Download or read book Energy written by Richard Rhodes and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2019-06-11 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “meticulously researched” (The New York Times Book Review) examination of energy transitions over time and an exploration of the current challenges presented by global warming, a surging world population, and renewable energy—from Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author Richard Rhodes. People have lived and died, businesses have prospered and failed, and nations have risen to world power and declined, all over energy challenges. Through an unforgettable cast of characters, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes explains how wood gave way to coal and coal made room for oil, as we now turn to natural gas, nuclear power, and renewable energy. “Entertaining and informative…a powerful look at the importance of science” (NPR.org), Rhodes looks back on five centuries of progress, through such influential figures as Queen Elizabeth I, King James I, Benjamin Franklin, Herman Melville, John D. Rockefeller, and Henry Ford. In his “magisterial history…a tour de force of popular science” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), Rhodes shows how breakthroughs in energy production occurred; from animal and waterpower to the steam engine, from internal-combustion to the electric motor. He looks at the current energy landscape, with a focus on how wind energy is competing for dominance with cast supplies of coal and natural gas. He also addresses the specter of global warming, and a population hurtling towards ten billion by 2100. Human beings have confronted the problem of how to draw energy from raw material since the beginning of time. Each invention, each discovery, each adaptation brought further challenges, and through such transformations, we arrived at where we are today. “A beautifully written, often inspiring saga of ingenuity and progress…Energy brings facts, context, and clarity to a key, often contentious subject” (Booklist, starred review).

Download or read book Energy and Behaviour written by Marta Lopes and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2019-11-25 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Changes to energy behaviour - the role of people and organisations in energy production, use and efficiency - are critical to supporting a societal transition towards a low carbon and more sustainable future. However, which changes need to be made, by whom, and with what technologies are still very much under discussion. This book, developed by a diverse range of experts, presents an international and multi-faceted approach to the sociotechnical challenge of engaging people in energy systems and vice versa. By providing a multidisciplinary view of this field, it encourages critical thinking about core theories, quantitative and qualitative methodologies, and policy challenges. It concludes by addressing new areas where additional evidence is required for interventions and policy-making. It is designed to appeal to new entrants in the energy-efficiency and behaviour field, particularly those taking a quantitative approach to the topic. Concurrently, it recognizes ecological economist Herman Daly's insight: what really counts is often not countable.

Download or read book Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet written by Thomas Murphy, Jr. and published by . This book was released on 2021-03 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Textbook for general-education college course on the physics of energy and its role in the broader context of society. Topics include exponential growth, economic growth, population, the role of space exploration, energy units, thermal energy, fossil fuels, climate change, hydroelectricity, wind power, solar power, biological energy, nuclear energy, comparison of alternative energy options, the role of human psychology, prospects for a plan, and adaptation strategies. Appendices include refreshers on math and chemistry, selected answers from end-of-chapter problems, and worthwhile tangents. Contains 195 graphics, 70 tables, a glossary, bibliography, and index.

Download or read book The Energy of Nations written by Jeremy Leggett and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-08 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Systemic global risks of oil supply, climate shock and financial collapse threaten tomorrow's economies and mean businesses and policy makers face huge challenges in fuelling tomorrow’s world. Jeremy Leggett gives a personal testimony of the dangers often ignored and incompletely understood - a journey through the human mind, the institutionalization of denial, and the reasons civilizations fail. It is also an account of tantalizing hope, because mobilizing renewables and redeploying energy funding can soften the crash of modern capitalism and set us on a road to renaissance.

Download or read book Energy at the End of the World written by Laura Watts and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-01-15 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Making local energy futures, from marine energy to hydrogen fuel, at the edge of the world. The islands of Orkney, off the northern coast of Scotland, are closer to the Arctic Circle than to London. Surrounded by fierce seas and shrouded by clouds and mist, the islands seem to mark the edge of the known world. And yet they are a center for energy technology innovation, from marine energy to hydrogen fuel networks, attracting the interest of venture capitalists and local communities. In this book, Laura Watts tells a story of making energy futures at the edge of the world. Orkney, Watts tells us, has been making technology for six thousand years, from arrowheads and stone circles to wave and tide energy prototypes. Artifacts and traces of all the ages—Stone, Bronze, Iron, Viking, Silicon—are visible everywhere. The islanders turned to energy innovation when forced to contend with an energy infrastructure they had outgrown. Today, Orkney is home to the European Marine Energy Centre, established in 2003. There are about forty open-sea marine energy test facilities in the world, many of which draw on Orkney expertise. The islands generate more renewable energy than they use, are growing hydrogen fuel and electric car networks, and have hundreds of locally owned micro wind turbines and a decade-old smart grid. Mixing storytelling and ethnography, empiricism and lyricism, Watts tells an Orkney energy saga—an account of how the islands are creating their own low-carbon future in the face of the seemingly impossible. The Orkney Islands, Watts shows, are playing a long game, making energy futures for another six thousand years.

Download or read book Short Circuiting Policy written by Leah Cardamore Stokes and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-18 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1999, Texas passed a landmark clean energy law, beginning a groundswell of new policies that promised to make the US a world leader in renewable energy. As Leah Stokes shows in Short Circuiting Policy, however, that policy did not lead to momentum in Texas, which failed to implement its solar laws or clean up its electricity system. Examining clean energy laws in Texas, Kansas, Arizona, and Ohio over a thirty-year time frame, Stokes argues that organized combat between advocate and opponent interest groups is central to explaining why states are not on track to address the climate crisis. She tells the political history of our energy institutions, explaining how fossil fuel companies and electric utilities have promoted climate denial and delay. Stokes further explains the limits of policy feedback theory, showing the ways that interest groups drive retrenchment through lobbying, public opinion, political parties and the courts. More than a history of renewable energy policy in modern America, Short Circuiting Policy offers a bold new argument about how the policy process works, and why seeming victories can turn into losses when the opposition has enough resources to roll back laws.

Download or read book Solar Power written by Laurie Brearley and published by Children's Press. This book was released on 2018-08-28 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book details the history, current uses, and potential future applications of solar energy."--

Download or read book Wind Power written by Matthew Ziem and published by Children's Press. This book was released on 2018-08-28 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book details the history, current uses, and potential future applications of wind energy."--

Download or read book Electrify written by Saul Griffith and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2021-10-12 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An optimistic--but realistic and feasible--action plan for fighting climate change while creating new jobs and a healthier environment: electrify everything. Climate change is a planetary emergency. We have to do something now—but what? Saul Griffith has a plan. In Electrify, Griffith lays out a detailed blueprint—optimistic but feasible—for fighting climate change while creating millions of new jobs and a healthier environment. Griffith’s plan can be summed up simply: electrify everything. He explains exactly what it would take to transform our infrastructure, update our grid, and adapt our households to make this possible. Billionaires may contemplate escaping our worn-out planet on a private rocket ship to Mars, but the rest of us, Griffith says, will stay and fight for the future. Griffith, an engineer and inventor, calls for grid neutrality, ensuring that households, businesses, and utilities operate as equals; we will have to rewrite regulations that were created for a fossil-fueled world, mobilize industry as we did in World War II, and offer low-interest “climate loans.” Griffith’s plan doesn’t rely on big, not-yet-invented innovations, but on thousands of little inventions and cost reductions. We can still have our cars and our houses—but the cars will be electric and solar panels will cover our roofs. For a world trying to bounce back from a pandemic and economic crisis, there is no other project that would create as many jobs—up to twenty-five million, according to one economic analysis. Is this politically possible? We can change politics along with everything else.

Download or read book Advances in Information and Communication written by Kohei Arai and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-02-24 with total page 927 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents high-quality research on the concepts and developments in the field of information and communication technologies, and their applications. It features 134 rigorously selected papers (including 10 poster papers) from the Future of Information and Communication Conference 2020 (FICC 2020), held in San Francisco, USA, from March 5 to 6, 2020, addressing state-of-the-art intelligent methods and techniques for solving real-world problems along with a vision of future research Discussing various aspects of communication, data science, ambient intelligence, networking, computing, security and Internet of Things, the book offers researchers, scientists, industrial engineers and students valuable insights into the current research and next generation information science and communication technologies.

Download or read book How Solar Energy Became Cheap written by Gregory F. Nemet and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-05-20 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Solar energy is a substantial global industry, one that has generated trade disputes among superpowers, threatened the solvency of large energy companies, and prompted serious reconsideration of electric utility regulation rooted in the 1930s. One of the biggest payoffs from solar’s success is not the clean inexpensive electricity it can produce, but the lessons it provides for innovation in other technologies needed to address climate change. Despite the large literature on solar, including analyses of increasingly detailed datasets, the question as to how solar became inexpensive and why it took so long still remains unanswered. Drawing on developments in the US, Japan, Germany, Australia, and China, this book provides a truly comprehensive and international explanation for how solar has become inexpensive. Understanding the reasons for solar’s success enables us to take full advantage of solar’s potential. It can also teach us how to support other low-carbon technologies with analogous properties, including small modular nuclear reactors and direct air capture. However, the urgency of addressing climate change means that a key challenge in applying the solar model is in finding ways to speed up innovation. Offering suggestions and policy recommendations for accelerated innovation is another key contribution of this book. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of energy technology and innovation, climate change and energy analysis and policy, as well as practitioners and policymakers working in the existing and emerging energy industries.

Download or read book Energy Psychology in Psychotherapy written by Fred P. Gallo and published by W W Norton & Company Incorporated. This book was released on 2002 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first book to provide a complete overview of the burgeoning field of energy psychology.

Download or read book Renewable Energy From the Ocean written by William H. Avery and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1994-03-17 with total page 477 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientists and engineers around the world are striving to develop new sources of energy. One source, ocean thermal energy conversion, has virtually unlimited potential. It is based on techniques that exploit heat produced by solar energy that may, in turn, be used to produce fuel and electricity. This book reviews the status and background of this promising technology. William H. Avery is the leading expert in this field, and his co-author Chih Wu is an authority on heat engine performance. Together they describe the workings of an OTEC power plant and how such a system might be implemented as part of a futuristic national energy strategy. The book is the only detailed presentation of basic OTEC technology, its testing and improvement. It is based on extensive development initiatives undertaken internationally during the period from 1974 through 1985. The book offers a thorough assessment of the economics of OTEC in comparison with other energy production methods. It will be of interest to a wide range of professionals in energy research, power and mechanical engineering, and to upper-level undergraduate students taking courses in these fields.

Download or read book Blessed with Energy written by Marcy Meyers and published by Balboa Press. This book was released on 2018-03-08 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Energy Medicine What is it? Is there any science to it? What does God say about it? This book uses a trinity of proofeasy-to-understand scientific explanation, scriptural support for the concepts, and life experiencesto explain how and why energy medicine works. By replacing fears and misconceptions about energy medicine with the truth about the human energy field, you will gain a greater understanding of your own created potential. Understanding how vibrational frequencies affect your physical, mental, and spiritual health will bring into conscious awareness the unseen forces that shape your health. This book will shift your paradigm about your ability to impact your health issues, energy level, and quality of life. When science and faith confirm each other, you are free to step into the powerful healing abilities of your own innate creationand use energy medicine to help facilitate that healing.

Download or read book Transportation Energy Data Book written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: