Download or read book Life at the Center of the Energy Crisis written by George Hunter Miley and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2013 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Life at the Center of the Energy Crisis: A Technologist''s Search for a Black Swan describes the story of the author''s work and struggles in the field of energy research. The author''s experience in the field spans from work with Admiral Rickover and the Nuclear Navy to research with NASA designing propulsion for spacecraft to travel to Mars. The book provides insights into the differences between nuclear research done during the Cold War by the two superpowers, and offers a commentary on the flaws in each system with hope for change in the future. The book also provides a look into the development of the nuclear engineering program at the University of Illinois from the author''s years as a professor and an administrator.
Download or read book Life At The Center Of The Energy Crisis A Technologist s Search For A Black Swan written by George H Miley and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2013-04-30 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Life at the Center of the Energy Crisis: A Technologist's Search for a Black Swan describes the story of the author's work and struggles in the field of energy research. The author's experience in the field spans from work with Admiral Rickover and the Nuclear Navy to research with NASA designing propulsion for spacecraft to travel to Mars. The book provides insights into the differences between nuclear research done during the Cold War by the two superpowers, and offers a commentary on the flaws in each system with hope for change in the future. The book also provides a look into the development of the nuclear engineering program at the University of Illinois from the author's years as a professor and an administrator.
Download or read book Oil electricity and Taleb s Black Swan written by Ullrich Müller and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2012-11-26 with total page 63 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Master's Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: excellent, Corvinus University Budapest (School of Management), language: English, abstract: The paper is the result of the attempt to subject the socio-economic world of energy to an analysis regarding a phenomenon called the ‘Black Swan’. This concept has been made popular by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, who has become a popular point of reference ever since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2007. Based on his work, the paper first defines the concept of the ‘Black Swan’ as an extremely unlikely high impact event, which is evidently unpredictable ex ante; however, is regarded as potentially avoidable by most observers ex post facto. The underlying assumption is, that against commonly held believe, it is not a long chain of incremental and statistically relevantly many events that makes history, but a seemingly insignificant number of outliers, or hence, ‘Black Swans’. Consequently, in its second part the paper focuses on a critical examination of the strategic prediction models used in the energy business today, which are mainly based on driver based models. Relying on Gaussian Bell Curve type normal distributions in order to predict future supply and demand, these models try to predict future price and value chain developments, ultimately searching for a strategic direction. Using historic data and experiences in order to review to what extent the ‘Black Swan’ influenced the development of the energy world in the past, the paper questions this approach by showing that time and again similar predictions have been rendered obsolete by real developments. In order to apply the necessary methodological rigor, ‘Black Swans’ and their impact are measured according to predefined criteria and indicators, elaborated in the first part of the paper. These indicators are mainly qualitative, however, as an empirical anchor the paper uses the historical development of the oil price, focusing on peaks and lows. The most striking historical cases of sudden price rise or decline are examined in detail in order to find commonalities and differences. Finally, based on the findings of this historical analysis, the paper raises the question, whether it is possible to draw any practical conclusions for the future, looking for methods, which could provide protection from ‘Black Swan’ events.
Download or read book Nuclear Pumped Lasers written by Mark Prelas and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-11-20 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on Nuclear-Pumped Laser (NPL) technology and provides the reader with a fundamental understanding of NPLs, a review of research in the field and exploration of large scale NPL system design and applications. Early chapters look at the fundamental properties of lasers, nuclear-pumping and nuclear reactions that may be used as drivers for nuclear-pumped lasers. The book goes on to explore the efficient transport of energy from the ionizing radiation to the laser medium and then the operational characteristics of existing nuclear-pumped lasers. Models based on Mathematica, explanations and a tutorial all assist the reader’s understanding of this technology. Later chapters consider the integration of the various systems involved in NPLs and the ways in which they can be used, including beyond the military agenda. As readers will discover, there are significant humanitarian applications for high energy/power lasers, such as deflecting asteroids, space propulsion, power transmission and mining. This book will appeal to graduate students and scholars across diverse disciplines, including nuclear engineering, laser physics, quantum electronics, gaseous electronics, optics, photonics, space systems engineering, materials, thermodynamics, chemistry and physics.
Download or read book The Black Swan Second Edition written by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2010-05-11 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most influential book of the past seventy-five years: a groundbreaking exploration of everything we know about what we don’t know, now with a new section called “On Robustness and Fragility.” A black swan is a highly improbable event with three principal characteristics: It is unpredictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random, and more predictable, than it was. The astonishing success of Google was a black swan; so was 9/11. For Nassim Nicholas Taleb, black swans underlie almost everything about our world, from the rise of religions to events in our own personal lives. Why do we not acknowledge the phenomenon of black swans until after they occur? Part of the answer, according to Taleb, is that humans are hardwired to learn specifics when they should be focused on generalities. We concentrate on things we already know and time and time again fail to take into consideration what we don’t know. We are, therefore, unable to truly estimate opportunities, too vulnerable to the impulse to simplify, narrate, and categorize, and not open enough to rewarding those who can imagine the “impossible.” For years, Taleb has studied how we fool ourselves into thinking we know more than we actually do. We restrict our thinking to the irrelevant and inconsequential, while large events continue to surprise us and shape our world. In this revelatory book, Taleb will change the way you look at the world, and this second edition features a new philosophical and empirical essay, “On Robustness and Fragility,” which offers tools to navigate and exploit a Black Swan world. Taleb is a vastly entertaining writer, with wit, irreverence, and unusual stories to tell. He has a polymathic command of subjects ranging from cognitive science to business to probability theory. Elegant, startling, and universal in its applications, The Black Swan is a landmark book—itself a black swan.
Download or read book Inertial Electrostatic Confinement IEC Fusion written by George H. Miley and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-12-12 with total page 415 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides readers with an introductory understanding of Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC), a type of fusion meant to retain plasma using an electrostatic field. IEC provides a unique approach for plasma confinement, as it offers a number of spin-off applications, such as a small neutron source for Neutron Activity Analysis (NAA), that all work towards creating fusion power. The IEC has been identified in recent times as an ideal fusion power unit because of its ability to burn aneutronic fuels like p-B11 as a result of its non-Maxwellian plasma dominated by beam-like ions. This type of fusion also takes place in a simple mechanical structure small in size, which also contributes to its viability as a source of power. This book posits that the ability to study the physics of IEC in very small volume plasmas makes it possible to rapidly investigate a design to create a power-producing device on a much larger scale. Along with this hypothesis the book also includes a conceptual experiment proposed for demonstrating breakeven conditions for using p-B11 in a hydrogen plasma simulation. This book also: Offers an in-depth look, from introductory basics to experimental simulation, of Inertial Electrostatic Confinement, an emerging method for generating fusion power Discusses how the Inertial Electrostatic Confinement method can be applied to other applications besides fusion through theoretical experiments in the text Details the study of the physics of Inertial Electrostatic Confinement in small-volume plasmas and suggests that their rapid reproduction could lead to the creation of a large-scale power-producing device Perfect for researchers and students working with nuclear fusion, Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC) Fusion: Fundamentals and Applications also offers the current experimental status of IEC research, details supporting theories in the field and introduces other potential applications that stem from IEC.
Download or read book Before the Lights Go Out written by Maggie Koerth-Baker and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2012-02-21 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What you need to know now about America's energy future "Hi, I'm the United States and I'm an oil-oholic." We have an energy problem. And everybody knows it, even if we can't all agree on what, specifically, the problem is. Rising costs, changing climate, peaking oil, foreign oil, public safety?if the fears are this complicated, then the solutions are bound to be even more confusing. Maggie Koerth-Baker?science editor at the award-winning blog BoingBoing.net?finally makes some sense out of the madness. Over the next 20 years, we'll be forced to cut 20 quadrillion BTU worth of fossil fuels from our energy budget, by wasting less and investing in alternatives. To make it work, we'll need to radically change the energy systems that have shaped our lives for 100 years. And the result will be neither business-as-usual, nor a hippie utopia. Koerth-Baker explains what we can do, what we can't do, and why "The Solution" is really a lot of solutions working together. This isn't about planting a tree, buying a Prius, and proving that you're a good person. Economics and social incentives got us a country full of gas-guzzling cars, long commutes, inefficient houses, and coal-fired power plants out in the middle of nowhere, and economics and incentives will be the things that build our new world. Ultimately, change is inevitable. Argues we're not going to solve the energy problem by convincing everyone to live like it's 1900 because that's not a good thing. Instead of reverting to the past, we have to build a future where we get energy from new places, use it in new ways, and do more with less. Clean coal? Natural gas? Nuclear? Electric cars? We'll need them all. When you look at the numbers, you'll find that we'll still be using fossil fuels, nuclear, and renewables for decades to come. Looks at new battery technology, smart grids, passive buildings, decentralized generation, clean coal, and carbon sequestration. These are buzzwords now, but they'll be a part of your world soon. For many people, they already are. Written by the cutting edge Science Editor for Boing Boing, one of the ten most popular blogs in America
Download or read book The Black Swan written by Eric Lybeck and published by Macat Library. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Europeans once thought all swans were white, and white' was part of how they defined 'swan.' Then black swans were discovered, and the definition changed forever. In his 2007 book, Nicholas Taleb says the black swans of his title can appear at any time, in the form of financial crises, wars, and other unexpected events that have profound, irreversible consequences. He draws on philosophy, mathematics and economics to explain why we seldom prepare for these events adequately. The way our brains process knowledge, combined with the conventions of statistical modeling, lull us into believing the future will resemble the past. We must beware of, and be prepared for, the unexpected. Book jacket.
Download or read book Idea Singularities written by Nathan Coppedge and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2021-11-24 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long known infamously as a philosopher, artist, inventor, poet, objectivist philosopher, and perpetual motioneer, Nathan Coppedge (the author) has out-done himself this time, with his visionary methodology for enlightening society and creating a future based on ideas which are oddly anachronistic, yet spookily practical. This text is jam-packed with numerous discoveries Nathan has made, including inventions, novel methods of improved computation, equations for free energy, time-travel techniques, new mechanisms, and much more. Readers will enjoy the variety and imagination present in this epic work of genius which has critics occasionally proclaiming he may have done it and solved the energy crisis (or done almost anything else, it seems).
Download or read book Who Turned Out the Lights written by Scott Bittle and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-27 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who Turned Out the Lights? is an entertaining and nonpartisan guide to the current U.S. energy crisis from Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, coauthors of the breakout bestseller Where Does the Money Go? At once light-hearted and fun—like Jon Stewart’s America: The Book and Stephen Colbert’s I am America (and So Can You!)—and deadly serious, Who Turned Out the Lights? helps readers understand what’s really at stake in the energy debate, an intelligent answer to the partisan Capital Hill squabbling between the “Drill, Baby, Drill” and “Every Day is Earth Day” lobbies.
Download or read book Lights Out written by Spencer Abraham and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2010-07-06 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this timely book, former Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham debunks the myths that warp our current debate over energy, and offers new solutions to the real problems we face in America. Drawing on the very latest thinking from experts in industry and academia, and his own experiences running America's Energy Department, he proposes a fresh approach to meeting our daunting energy threats. This book effectively answers how America and the world can overcome the challenges of rising global energy demand, geopolitical disruptions of the energy marketplace, and the environmental impact of producing and using energy. What emerges is a pragmatic energy strategy that calls for blending a variety of energy sources including nuclear, clean coal, solar, wind, and natural gas with a more determined effort at improving energy efficiency through the deployment of smart energy grids and buildings, to help meet our challenges while preserving our economy and environment. Coming in the midst of a national debate about global warming, energy dependence and rising energy prices and rich with anecdotes from the author's service in the Senate and cabinet, this book is a clarion call that will help shape our energy future.
Download or read book The Energy Crisis written by Michael Tanzer and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Lights Out written by Jason Makansi and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2007-06-04 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A behind-the-scenes exposure why our electricity system is headed for a state of emergency-and what can be done to head it off Most people don't realize that skyrocketing global energy demand and economic growth severely affect the supply of electricity. Between production (power plants) and delivery is an antiquated, "third-world" transmission grid that is in desperate need of hardening against breakdowns, terrorist attacks, inadequate carrying capacity, and operational obsolescence. And while electricity doesn't hold the headlines or dramatic power of oil, the ability to ensure its uninterrupted supply at a reasonable price is even more essential to global survival and prosperity. Lights Out is today's most detailed, in-depth examination of this largely unreported looming energy crisis. Written by one of the world's top electricity industry experts, this powerful book covers numerous hot button economic and political issues-free markets versus regulation; energy independence versus foreign imports; nuclear power, global warming, and other environmental issues; and much more. Beyond just uncovering and illuminating the problems, however, it proposes a comprehensive road map of technical solutions and regulatory reform from both the production and demand sides of the equation-a framework for rethinking, rebuilding, and enhancing the entire electricity production and delivery infrastructure. Prescriptive and provocative, Lights Out will redefine the simmering debate on how the world can-and must-act now to head off a global catastrophe, one that could eventually wreak even more havoc than the ongoing oil crisis. Jason Makansi is the President of Pearl Street, Inc., a consulting firm; Principal of PS Liquidity Advisors, an advisory service for energy technology companies raising capital; and Executive Director of the Energy Storage Council, a public-policy advocacy organization. A prolific author, respected industry thought leader, and seasoned communicator, Mr. Makansi has been analyzing the technological, business, and regulatory issues in electricity production and delivery for over twenty-five years. He earned a BS in chemical engineering from Columbia University. His earlier books include An Investor’s Guide to the Electricity Economy, also published by John Wiley & Sons, and Managing Steam: An Engineering Guide to Commercial, Industrial, and Utility Systems.
Download or read book Peak Poison written by David Hallowes and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Fooled by Randomness written by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and published by Random House. This book was released on 2008-10-14 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fooled by Randomness is a standalone book in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s landmark Incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and decision-making in a world we don’t understand. The other books in the series are The Black Swan, Antifragile, Skin in the Game, and The Bed of Procrustes. Fooled by Randomness is the word-of-mouth sensation that will change the way you think about business and the world. Nassim Nicholas Taleb–veteran trader, renowned risk expert, polymathic scholar, erudite raconteur, and New York Times bestselling author of The Black Swan–has written a modern classic that turns on its head what we believe about luck and skill. This book is about luck–or more precisely, about how we perceive and deal with luck in life and business. Set against the backdrop of the most conspicuous forum in which luck is mistaken for skill–the world of trading–Fooled by Randomness provides captivating insight into one of the least understood factors in all our lives. Writing in an entertaining narrative style, the author tackles major intellectual issues related to the underestimation of the influence of happenstance on our lives. The book is populated with an array of characters, some of whom have grasped, in their own way, the significance of chance: the baseball legend Yogi Berra; the philosopher of knowledge Karl Popper; the ancient world’s wisest man, Solon; the modern financier George Soros; and the Greek voyager Odysseus. We also meet the fictional Nero, who seems to understand the role of randomness in his professional life but falls victim to his own superstitious foolishness. However, the most recognizable character of all remains unnamed–the lucky fool who happens to be in the right place at the right time–he embodies the “survival of the least fit.” Such individuals attract devoted followers who believe in their guru’s insights and methods. But no one can replicate what is obtained by chance. Are we capable of distinguishing the fortunate charlatan from the genuine visionary? Must we always try to uncover nonexistent messages in random events? It may be impossible to guard ourselves against the vagaries of the goddess Fortuna, but after reading Fooled by Randomness we can be a little better prepared. Named by Fortune One of the Smartest Books of All Time A Financial Times Best Business Book of the Year
Download or read book Confronting Collapse written by Michael C. & Campbell Ph D. Colin Ruppert and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book that inspired the movie COLLAPSE.The world is running short of energy-especially cheap, easy-to-find oil. Shortages, along with resulting price increases, threaten industrialized civilization, the global economy, and our entire way of life.In "Confronting Collapse," author Michael C. Ruppert, a former LAPD narcotics officer turned investigative journalist, details the intricate connections between money and energy, including the ways in which oil shortages and price spikes triggered the economic crash that began in September 2008. Given the 96 percent correlation between economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions and the unlikelihood of economic growth without a spike in energy use, Ruppert argues that we are not, in fact, on the verge of economic recovery, but on the verge of complete collapse.Ruppertas truth is not merely inconvenient. It is utterly devastating.But there is still hope. Ruppert outlines a 25-point plan of action, including the creation of a second strategic petroleum reserve for the use of state and local governments, the immediate implementation of a national Feed-in Tariff mandating that electric utilities pay 3 percent above market rates for all surplus electricity generated from renewable sources, a thorough assessment of soil conditions nationwide, and an emergency action plan for soil restoration and sustainable agriculture.
Download or read book Microprediction written by Peter Cotton and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2022-11-08 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How a web-scale network of autonomous micromanagers can challenge the AI revolution and combat the high cost of quantitative business optimization. The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is leaving behind small businesses and organizations that cannot afford in-house teams of data scientists. In Microprediction, Peter Cotton examines the repeated quantitative tasks that drive business optimization from the perspectives of economics, statistics, decision making under uncertainty, and privacy concerns. He asks what things currently described as AI are not “microprediction,” whether microprediction is an individual or collective activity, and how we can produce and distribute high-quality microprediction at low cost. The world is missing a public utility, he concludes, while companies are missing an important strategic approach that would enable them to benefit—and also give back. In an engaging, colloquial style, Cotton argues that market-inspired “superminds” are likely to be very effective compared with other orchestration mechanisms in the domain of microprediction. He presents an ambitious yet practical alternative to the expensive “artisan” data science that currently drains money from firms. Challenging the machine learning revolution and exposing a contradiction at its heart, he offers engineers a new liberty: no longer reliant on quantitative experts, they are free to create intelligent applications using general-purpose application programming interfaces (APIs) and libraries. He describes work underway to encourage this approach, one that he says might someday prove to be as valuable to businesses—and society at large—as the internet.
