Download or read book Making the Modern World written by Vaclav Smil and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-12-16 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How much further should the affluent world push its material consumption? Does relative dematerialization lead to absolute decline in demand for materials? These and many other questions are discussed and answered in Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization. Over the course of time, the modern world has become dependent on unprecedented flows of materials. Now even the most efficient production processes and the highest practical rates of recycling may not be enough to result in dematerialization rates that would be high enough to negate the rising demand for materials generated by continuing population growth and rising standards of living. This book explores the costs of this dependence and the potential for substantial dematerialization of modern economies. Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization considers the principal materials used throughout history, from wood and stone, through to metals, alloys, plastics and silicon, describing their extraction and production as well as their dominant applications. The evolving productivities of material extraction, processing, synthesis, finishing and distribution, and the energy costs and environmental impact of rising material consumption are examined in detail. The book concludes with an outlook for the future, discussing the prospects for dematerialization and potential constrains on materials. This interdisciplinary text provides useful perspectives for readers with backgrounds including resource economics, environmental studies, energy analysis, mineral geology, industrial organization, manufacturing and material science.
Download or read book Making the Modern World written by Vaclav Smil and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-10-02 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How much further should the affluent world push its material consumption? Does relative dematerialization lead to absolute decline in demand for materials? These and many other questions are discussed and answered in Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization. Over the course of time, the modern world has become dependent on unprecedented flows of materials. Now even the most efficient production processes and the highest practical rates of recycling may not be enough to result in dematerialization rates that would be high enough to negate the rising demand for materials generated by continuing population growth and rising standards of living. This book explores the costs of this dependence and the potential for substantial dematerialization of modern economies. Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization considers the principal materials used throughout history, from wood and stone, through to metals, alloys, plastics and silicon, describing their extraction and production as well as their dominant applications. The evolving productivities of material extraction, processing, synthesis, finishing and distribution, and the energy costs and environmental impact of rising material consumption are examined in detail. The book concludes with an outlook for the future, discussing the prospects for dematerialization and potential constrains on materials. This interdisciplinary text provides useful perspectives for readers with backgrounds including resource economics, environmental studies, energy analysis, mineral geology, industrial organization, manufacturing and material science.
Download or read book Decomposed written by Kyle Devine and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-10-15 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The hidden material histories of music. Music is seen as the most immaterial of the arts, and recorded music as a progress of dematerialization—an evolution from physical discs to invisible digits. In Decomposed, Kyle Devine offers another perspective. He shows that recorded music has always been a significant exploiter of both natural and human resources, and that its reliance on these resources is more problematic today than ever before. Devine uncovers the hidden history of recorded music—what recordings are made of and what happens to them when they are disposed of. Devine's story focuses on three forms of materiality. Before 1950, 78 rpm records were made of shellac, a bug-based resin. Between 1950 and 2000, formats such as LPs, cassettes, and CDs were all made of petroleum-based plastic. Today, recordings exist as data-based audio files. Devine describes the people who harvest and process these materials, from women and children in the Global South to scientists and industrialists in the Global North. He reminds us that vinyl records are oil products, and that the so-called vinyl revival is part of petrocapitalism. The supposed immateriality of music as data is belied by the energy required to power the internet and the devices required to access music online. We tend to think of the recordings we buy as finished products. Devine offers an essential backstory. He reveals how a range of apparently peripheral people and processes are actually central to what music is, how it works, and why it matters.
Download or read book Materials Matter written by Ken Geiser and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2001-05-25 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The products we purchase and use are assembled from a wide range of naturally occurring and manufactured materials. But too often we create hazards for the ecosystem and human health as we mine, process, distribute, use, and dispose of these materials. Until recently, most research has focused on the waste end of material cycles. This book argues that the safest and least costly point at which to avoid environmental damage is when materials are first designed and selected for use in industrial production. Materials Matter presents convincing evidence that we can use fewer materials and eliminate the use of many toxic chemicals by focusing directly on material (chemical) use when products are designed. It also shows how manufacturers can save money by increasing the effectiveness of material use and reducing the use of toxic chemicals. It advocates new directions for the material sciences and government policies on materials. And it argues that manufacturers, suppliers, and customers need to set more socially responsible policies for products and services to achieve higher environmental and health goals.
Download or read book Energy Transitions written by Vaclav Smil and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-05-26 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This bold and controversial argument shows why energy transitions are inherently complex and prolonged affairs, and how ignoring this fact raises unrealistic expectations that the United States and other global economies can be weaned quickly from a primary dependency on fossil fuels. Energy transitions are fundamental processes behind the evolution of human societies: they both drive and are driven by technical, economic, and social changes. In a bold and provocative argument, Energy Transitions: History, Requirements, Prospects describes the history of modern society's dependence on fossil fuels and the prospects for the transition to a nonfossil world. Vaclav Smil, who has published more on various aspects of energy than any working scientist, makes it clear that this transition will not be accomplished easily, and that it cannot be accomplished within the timetables established by the Obama administration. The book begins with a survey of the basic properties of modern energy systems. It then offers detailed explanations of universal patterns of energy transitions, the peculiarities of changing energy use in the world's leading economies, and the coming shifts from fossil fuels to renewable conversions. Specific cases of these transitions are analyzed for eight of the world's leading energy consumers. The author closes with perspectives on the nature and pace of the coming energy transition to renewable conversions.
Download or read book Materials and Dematerialization written by Vaclav Smil and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2023-06-26 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: MATERIALS AND DEMATERIALIZATION World-renowned scientist Vaclav Smil examines a critical topic in the research and policy domain of sustainable resource use Over the course of time, the modern world has become dependent on unprecedented flows of materials. Now even the most efficient production processes and the highest practical rates of recycling may not be enough to result in dematerialization rates that would be high enough to negate the rising demand for materials generated by continuing population growth and rising standards of living. Materials and Dematerialization considers the principal materials used throughout history, from wood and stone, through to metals, alloys, plastics and silicon, describing their extraction and production as well as their dominant applications. The evolving productivities of material extraction, processing, synthesis, finishing and distribution, and the energy costs and environmental impact of rising material consumption are examined in detail, along with the relationship between socio-economic development and resource use, including major technological and innovation aspects. The book concludes with an outlook for the future, discussing the prospects for dematerialization, potential constraints on materials, and an updated appraisal of material requirements and prospects during the coming decades. Building on the success of his 2013 book, Vaclav Smil has thoroughly revised this landmark text to highlight advances that have taken place over the last decade, including a thorough review of statistics and references to 2022. This updated edition also includes new content to explicitly address material for global energy transition and for securing food for a still growing global population. Praise for the 1st edition “Vaclav Smil keeps turning out amazing books. Making the Modern World, I just finished, and it’s pretty fantastic.” (Interview with Bill Gates, January 2014)
Download or read book Materials and Dematerialization written by Vaclav Smil and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2023-05-18 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Der weltbekannte Wissenschaftler Vaclav Smil analysiert das kritische Thema der nachhaltigen Ressourcennutzung, das für Forschung und Politik von großem Interesse ist Im Laufe der Zeit ist die moderne Welt von Materialströmen in ungeahntem Ausmaß abhängig geworden. Selbst die effizientesten Produktionsverfahren und ein größtmöglicher Recyclinganteil reichen möglicherweise nicht aus, um die Dematerialisierung so weit voranzutreiben, dass sie die zunehmende Nachfrage nach Materialien ausgleichen könnte, die aus dem anhaltenden Bevölkerungswachstum und steigenden Lebensstandards entsteht. In Materials and Dematerialization werden die wichtigsten Materialien der Geschichte betrachtet, von Holz und Stein über Metalle und Legierungen bis zu Kunststoffen und Silizium, mit einer Beschreibung ihrer Gewinnung bzw. Herstellung und der wichtigsten Anwendungen. In einer detaillierten Analyse werden die steigende Produktivität bei der Gewinnung und Verarbeitung, Synthese, Veredelung und Verteilung von Materialien sowie die Energiekosten und die Umweltauswirkungen des zunehmenden Materialverbrauchs untersucht. Gleichzeitig wird die Beziehung zwischen sozioökonomischer Entwicklung und Ressourcennutzung insbesondere in Bezug auf die wichtigsten Technologien und Innovationen betrachtet. Das Buch endet mit einem Ausblick auf die Zukunft. Erörtert werden dabei die Möglichkeiten der Dematerialisierung, eine mögliche Beschränkung von Materialien und eine aktualisierte Einschätzung des Materialbedarfs sowie die Prognosen für die nächsten Jahrzehnte. Nach dem großen Erfolg seiner Veröffentlichung von 2013 hat Vaclav Smil sein wegweisendes Werk nun gründlich überarbeitet. In der neuen Ausgabe werden die Fortschritte der letzten zehn Jahren herausgestellt, und auch die Statistiken und Literaturhinweise wurden auf den Stand von 2022 gebracht. Zudem enthält die aktualisierte Ausgabe neue Inhalte, die sich ausdrücklich damit befassen, welche Materialien für die globale Energiewende und die Lebensmittelsicherheit einer weiterhin wachsenden Weltbevölkerung erforderlich sind.
Download or read book Vaporized written by Robert Tercek and published by LifeTree Media. This book was released on 2015-09-08 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vaporized was selected as the winner of the 2016 International Book of the Year prize by getAbstract from a field of 10,000 business and strategy titles. The prize was announced at the Frankfurt Book Fair on October 19, 2016 Digital technology has upturned entire industries and irrevocably altered the way we live, work and do business. Now, it is set to transform every sector and economic system on the planet in almost unimaginable ways — even those once thought to be immune from its effects. In his groundbreaking new book Vaporized, digital pioneer and business futurist Robert Tercek takes us inside the world’s largest cultural and economic transformation since the industrial revolution, and explains what it means to consumers, employers and policy makers. Dynamic and engaging, Tercek does for digital business theory what Malcolm Gladwell has done for sociology, translating a complex, arcane subject in approachable and relevant terms. In contrast to the digital-era doomsayers and hand-wringing pundits, Tercek offers an insightful, optimistic analysis of the future and a practical blueprint for survival that no business leader, from the Fortune 500 CEO to the small startup owner, can afford to ignore.
Download or read book Still the Iron Age written by Vaclav Smil and published by Butterworth-Heinemann. This book was released on 2016-01-22 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the last two generations have seen an enormous amount of attention paid to advances in electronics, the fact remains that high-income, high-energy societies could thrive without microchips, etc., but, by contrast, could not exist without steel. Because of the importance of this material to comtemporary civilization, a comprehensive resource is needed for metallurgists, non-metallurgists, and anyone with a background in environmental studies, industry, manufacturing, and history, seeking a broader understanding of the history of iron and steel and its current and future impact on society. Given its coverage of the history of iron and steel from its genesis to slow pre-industrial progress, revolutionary advances during the 19th century, magnification of 19th century advances during the past five generations, patterns of modern steel production, the ubiquitous uses of the material, potential substitutions, advances in relative dematerialization, and appraisal of steel’s possible futures, Still the Iron Age: Iron and Steel in the Modern World by world-renowned author Vaclav Smil meets that need. Incorporates an interdisciplinary discussion of the history and evolution of the iron- and steel-making industry and its impact on the development of the modern world Serves as a valuable contribution because of its unique perspective that compares steel to technological advances in other materials, perceived to be important Discusses how we can manufacture smarter rather than deny demand Explores future opportunities and new efforts for sustainable development in the industry
Download or read book Technological Trajectories and the Human Environment written by National Academy of Engineering and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1997-03-03 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Technological Trajectories and the Human Environment provides a surprising projection of a much greener planet, based on long-range analysis of trends in the efficient use of energy, materials, and land. The authors argue that we will decarbonize the global energy system and drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We will dematerialize the economy by leaner manufacturing, better product design, and smart use of materials. We will significantly increase land areas reserved for nature by conducting highly productive and environmentally friendly agriculture on less land than is used today, even as global population doubles. The book concludes that the technological opportunities before us offer the possibility of a vastly superior industrial ecology. Rich in both data and theory, the book offers fresh analyses essential for everyone in the environmental arena concerned with global change, sustainable development, and profitable investments in technology.
Download or read book Grand Transitions written by Vaclav Smil and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-02-12 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From one of the world's leading experts on the history of energy, a rigorous examination of the transitions that structure our modern world--and the environmental reckoning that will mark its success or failure. What makes the modern world work? The answer to this deceptively simple question lies in four "grand transitions" of civilization--in populations, agriculture, energy, and economics--which have transformed the way we live. Societies that have undergone all four transitions emerge into an era of radically different population dynamics, food surpluses (and waste), abundant energy use, and expanding economic opportunities. Simultaneously, in other parts of the world, hundreds of millions remain largely untouched by these developments. Through erudite storytelling, Vaclav Smil investigates the fascinating and complex interactions of these transitions. He argues that the moral imperative to share modernity's benefits has become more acute with increasing economic inequality, but addressing this imbalance would make it exceedingly difficult to implement the changes necessary for the long-term preservation of the environment. Thus, managing the fifth transition--environmental changes from natural-resource depletion, biodiversity loss, and global warming--will determine the success or eventual failure of the grand transitions that have made the world we live in today.
Download or read book Conceptualism and Materiality written by Christian Berger and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-07-08 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conceptualism and Materiality. Matters of Art and Politics underscores the significance of materials and materiality within Conceptual art and conceptualism more broadly. It challenges the notion of conceptualism as an idea-centered, anti-materialist enterprise, and highlights the political implications thereof.
Download or read book The Man who Fed the World written by Leon F. Hesser and published by Leon Hesser. This book was released on 2006 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Man Who Fed the World provides a loving and respectful portrait of one of America's greatest heroes. Nobel Peace Prize recipient for averting hunger and famine, Dr. Norman Borlang is credited with saving hundreds of millions of lives from starvation-more than any other person in history? Loved by millions around the world, Dr. Borlang is recognized as one of the most influential men of the twentieth century.
Download or read book More from Less written by Andrew McAfee and published by Scribner. This book was released on 2020-10-13 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller The Second Machine Age, a paradigm-shifting argument “full of fascinating information and provocative insights” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)—demonstrating that we are increasing prosperity while using fewer natural resources. Throughout history, the only way for humanity to grow was by degrading the Earth: chopping down forests, polluting the air and water, and endlessly using up resources. Since the first Earth Day in 1970, the focus has been on radically changing course: reducing our consumption, tightening our belts, and learning to share and reuse. Is that argument correct? Absolutely not. In More from Less, McAfee argues that to solve our ecological problems we should do the opposite of what a decade of conventional wisdom suggests. Rather than reduce and conserve, we should rely on the cost-consciousness built into capitalism and the streamlining miracles of technology to create a more efficient world. America—a large, high-tech country that accounts for about 25% of the global economy—is now generally using less of most resources year after year, even as its economy and population continue to grow. What’s more, the US is polluting the air and water less, emitting fewer greenhouse gases, and replenishing endangered animal populations. And, as McAfee shows, America is not alone. Other countries are also transforming themselves in fundamental ways. What has made this turnabout possible? One thing, primarily: the collaboration between technology and capitalism, although good governance and public awareness have also been critical. McAfee does warn of issues that haven’t been solved, like global warming, overfishing, and communities left behind as capitalism and tech progress race forward. But overall, More from Less is a revelatory and “deeply engaging” (Booklist) account of how we’ve stumbled into an unexpectedly better balance with nature—one that holds out the promise of more abundant and greener centuries ahead.
Download or read book Growth written by Vaclav Smil and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 665 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A systematic investigation of growth in nature and society, from tiny organisms to the trajectories of empires and civilizations. Growth has been both an unspoken and an explicit aim of our individual and collective striving. It governs the lives of microorganisms and galaxies; it shapes the capabilities of our extraordinarily large brains and the fortunes of our economies. Growth is manifested in annual increments of continental crust, a rising gross domestic product, a child's growth chart, the spread of cancerous cells. In this magisterial book, Vaclav Smil offers systematic investigation of growth in nature and society, from tiny organisms to the trajectories of empires and civilizations. Smil takes readers from bacterial invasions through animal metabolisms to megacities and the global economy. He begins with organisms whose mature sizes range from microscopic to enormous, looking at disease-causing microbes, the cultivation of staple crops, and human growth from infancy to adulthood. He examines the growth of energy conversions and man-made objects that enable economic activities—developments that have been essential to civilization. Finally, he looks at growth in complex systems, beginning with the growth of human populations and proceeding to the growth of cities. He considers the challenges of tracing the growth of empires and civilizations, explaining that we can chart the growth of organisms across individual and evolutionary time, but that the progress of societies and economies, not so linear, encompasses both decline and renewal. The trajectory of modern civilization, driven by competing imperatives of material growth and biospheric limits, Smil tells us, remains uncertain.
Download or read book Numbers Don t Lie written by Vaclav Smil and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-05-04 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Vaclav Smil is my favorite author… Numbers Don't Lie takes everything that makes his writing great and boils it down into an easy-to-read format. I unabashedly recommend this book to anyone who loves learning."--Bill Gates, GatesNotes From the author of How the World Really Works, an essential guide to understanding how numbers reveal the true state of our world--exploring a wide range of topics including energy, the environment, technology, transportation, and food production. Vaclav Smil's mission is to make facts matter. An environmental scientist, policy analyst, and a hugely prolific author, he is Bill Gates' go-to guy for making sense of our world. In Numbers Don't Lie, Smil answers questions such as: What's worse for the environment--your car or your phone? How much do the world's cows weigh (and what does it matter)? And what makes people happy? From data about our societies and populations, through measures of the fuels and foods that energize them, to the impact of transportation and inventions of our modern world--and how all of this affects the planet itself--in Numbers Don't Lie, Vaclav Smil takes us on a fact-finding adventure, using surprising statistics and illuminating graphs to challenge conventional thinking. Packed with fascinating information and memorable examples, Numbers Don't Lie reveals how the US is leading a rising worldwide trend in chicken consumption, that vaccination yields the best return on investment, and why electric cars aren't as great as we think (yet). Urgent and essential, with a mix of science, history, and wit--all in bite-sized chapters on a broad range of topics--Numbers Don't Lie inspires readers to interrogate what they take to be true.
Download or read book Materiality written by Petra Lange-Berndt and published by Whitechapel: Documents of Cont. This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Materiality has reappeared as a highly contested topic in recent art. Modernist criticism tended to privilege form over matter--considering material as the essentialized basis of medium specificity--and technically based approaches in art history reinforced connoisseurship through the science of artistic materials. But in order to engage critically with the meaning, for example, of hair in David Hammons's installations, milk in the work of Dieter Roth, or latex in the sculptures of Eva Hesse, we need a very different set of methodological tools. This anthology focuses on the moments when materials become willful actors and agents within artistic processes, entangling their audience in a web of connections. It investigates the role of materiality in art that attempts to expand notions of time, space, process, or participation. And it looks at the ways in which materials obstruct, disrupt, or interfere with social norms, emerging as impure formations and messy, unstable substances. It reexamines the notion of "dematerialization"; addresses materialist critiques of artistic production; surveys relationships between matter and bodies, from the hierarchies of gender to the abject and phobic; explores the vitality of substances; and addresses the concepts of intermateriality and transmateriality emerging in the hybrid zones of digital experimentation." -- Publisher's description.
