Download or read book Rooftop Revolution written by Danny Kennedy and published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. This book was released on 2012-09-03 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is the truth that the powerful Dirty Energy public relations machine doesn't want you to know: the ascent of solar energy is upon us. Solar-generated electricity has risen exponentially in the last few years and employment in the solar industry has doubled since 2009. Meanwhile, electricity from coal has declined to pre-World War II levels as the fossil fuel industry continues to shed jobs. Danny Kennedy systematically refutes the lies spread by solar's opponents—that it is expensive, inefficient, and unreliable; that it is kept alive only by subsidies; that it can't be scaled; and many other untruths. He shows that we need a rooftop revolution to break the entrenched power of the coal, oil, nuclear, and gas industries Solar energy can create more jobs, return our nation to prosperity, and ensure the sustainability and safety of our planet. Now is the time to move away from the dangerous energy sources of the past and unleash the amazing potential of the sun.
Download or read book Energy Revolution written by Mara Prentiss and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2015-02-10 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Energy can be neither created nor destroyed—but it can be wasted. The United States wastes two-thirds of its energy, including 80 percent of the energy used in transportation. So the nation has a tremendous opportunity to develop a sensible energy policy based on benefits and costs. But to do that we need facts—not hyperbole, not wishful thinking. Mara Prentiss presents and interprets political and technical information from government reports and press releases, as well as fundamental scientific laws, to advance a bold claim: wind and solar power could generate 100 percent of the United States’ average total energy demand for the foreseeable future, even without waste reduction. To meet the actual rather than the average demand, significant technological and political hurdles must be overcome. Still, a U.S. energy economy based entirely on wind, solar, hydroelectricity, and biofuels is within reach. The transition to renewables will benefit from new technologies that decrease energy consumption without lifestyle sacrifices, including energy optimization from interconnected smart devices and waste reduction from use of LED lights, regenerative brakes, and electric cars. Many countries cannot obtain sufficient renewable energy within their borders, Prentiss notes, but U.S. conversion to a 100 percent renewable energy economy would, by itself, significantly reduce the global impact of fossil fuel consumption. Enhanced by full-color visualizations of key concepts and data, Energy Revolution answers one of the century’s most crucial questions: How can we get smarter about producing and distributing, using and conserving, energy?
Download or read book Solar Revolution written by Travis Bradford and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2008-09-26 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An innovative analysis that shows how the shift to solar energy—in particular, the use of photovoltaic cells—is both economically advantageous and inevitable, and will rival the information and communication technologies revolution in its transformative effects. In Solar Revolution, fund manager and former corporate buyout specialist Travis Bradford argues—on the basis of standard business and economic forecasting models—that over the next two decades solar energy will increasingly become the best and cheapest choice for most electricity and energy applications. Solar Revolution outlines the path by which the transition to solar technology and sustainable energy practices will occur. Developments in the photovoltaic (PV) industry over the last ten years have made direct electricity generation from PV cells a cost-effective and feasible energy solution, despite the common view that PV technology appeals only to a premium niche market. Bradford shows that PV electricity today has become the choice of hundreds of thousands of mainstream homeowners and businesses in many markets worldwide, including Japan, Germany, and the American Southwest. Solar energy will eventually be the cheapest source of energy in nearly all markets and locations because PV can bypass the aging and fragile electricity grid and deliver its power directly to the end user, fundamentally changing the underlying economics of energy. As the scale of PV production increases and costs continue to decline at historic rates, demand for PV electricity will outpace supply of systems for years to come. Ultimately, the shift from fossil fuels to solar energy will take place not because solar energy is better for the environment or energy security, or because of future government subsidies or as yet undeveloped technology. The solar revolution is already occurring through decisions made by self-interested energy users. The shift to solar energy is inevitable and will be as transformative as the last century's revolutions in information and communication technologies.
Download or read book Solar Revolution written by Travis Bradford and published by Mit Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Energy technology & engineering.
Download or read book Taming the Sun written by Varun Sivaram and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-02-26 with total page 391 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How solar could spark a clean-energy transition through transformative innovation—creative financing, revolutionary technologies, and flexible energy systems. Solar energy, once a niche application for a limited market, has become the cheapest and fastest-growing power source on earth. What's more, its potential is nearly limitless—every hour the sun beams down more energy than the world uses in a year. But in Taming the Sun, energy expert Varun Sivaram warns that the world is not yet equipped to harness erratic sunshine to meet most of its energy needs. And if solar's current surge peters out, prospects for replacing fossil fuels and averting catastrophic climate change will dim. Innovation can brighten those prospects, Sivaram explains, drawing on firsthand experience and original research spanning science, business, and government. Financial innovation is already enticing deep-pocketed investors to fund solar projects around the world, from the sunniest deserts to the poorest villages. Technological innovation could replace today's solar panels with coatings as cheap as paint and employ artificial photosynthesis to store intermittent sunshine as convenient fuels. And systemic innovation could add flexibility to the world's power grids and other energy systems so they can dependably channel the sun's unreliable energy. Unleashing all this innovation will require visionary public policy: funding researchers developing next-generation solar technologies, refashioning energy systems and economic markets, and putting together a diverse clean energy portfolio. Although solar can't power the planet by itself, it can be the centerpiece of a global clean energy revolution. A Council on Foreign Relations Book
Download or read book Total Transition written by Sandeep Pai and published by Rocky Mountain Books Ltd. This book was released on 2018-10-23 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Follow the journey of a Canadian and Indian couple, Savannah and Sandeep, as they travel the world to capture the human side of one of the biggest energy transitions of our times - the global shift from fossil fuels to renewables. In this exciting and provocative new book, readers are taken into the homes of the coal miners who live and work in Jharia, a town in India that has been on fire for the past 100 years due to poor coal mining practices. Life in Jharia is a version of Dante's inferno - 700,000 people live in the most unimaginable conditions. Yet even though residents of Jharia say they are dying slowly every day, they also say they'll never leave. Almost 11,000 kilometres away, in the Canadian oil sands, workers and indigenous people similarly describe their complex relationship with the industry that employs them. Although fossil fuel extraction is harming the environment and impacting people's way of life in the oil sands region, a much-needed shift to renewable energy could also leave communities without their livelihoods. Written in the form of a travelogue, Total Transition provides a whirlwind look at the global growth of renewable energy - highlighting exciting developments in solar and wind energy in Canada, India, Africa and Europe, and discussing hurdles standing in the way of a total transition. Energy experts and leaders of innovative renewable energy projects share hope and optimism about the future of fossil fuel workers and their communities in an increasingly renewable world.
Download or read book Spain s Photovoltaic Revolution written by Pedro A. Prieto and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-01-04 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROI or EROEI) is the amount of energy acquired from a particular energy source divided by the energy expended, or invested, in obtaining that energy. EROI is an essential and seemingly simple measure of the usable energy or “energy profit” from the exploitation of an energy source, but it is not so easy to determine all of the energy expenditures that should be included in the calculation. Because EROI values are generally low for renewable energy sources, differences in these estimates can lead to sharply divergent conclusions about the viability of these energy technologies. This book presents the first complete energy analysis of a large-scale, real-world deployment of photovoltaic (PV) collection systems representing 3.5 GW of installed, grid-connected solar plants in Spain. The analysis includes all of the factors that limit and adjust the real electricity output through one full-year cycle, and all of the fossil fuel inputs required to achieve these results. The authors’ comprehensive analysis of energy inputs, which assigns energy cost estimates to all financial expenditures, yields EROI values that are less than half of those claimed by other investigators and by the solar industry. Sensitivity analysis is used to test various assumptions in deriving these EROI estimates. The results imply that the EROI of current, large-scale PV systems may be too low to seamlessly support an energy and economic transition away from fossil fuels. Given the pervasiveness of fossil fuel subsidies in the modern economy, a key conclusion is that all components of the system that brings solar power to the consumer, from manufacturing to product maintenance and life cycle, must be improved in terms of energy efficiency. The materials science of solar conversion efficiency is only one such component. Sunny Spain represented an ideal case study as the country had the highest penetration of solar PV energy at 2.3 percent of total national demand as well as state-of-the-art expertise in solar power including grid management of intermittent, modern renewable systems. This book, written by a uniquely qualified author team consisting of the chief engineer for several major photovoltaic projects in Spain and the world’s leading expert on the concept and application of EROI, provides a comprehensive understanding of the net energy available to society from energy sources in general and from functioning PV installations under real-world conditions in particular. The authors provide critical insight into the capacity of renewable energy sources to fill the foreseeable gap between world energy demand and depletion rates for fossil fuels. · Presents the first comprehensive study of the EROI of large-scale solar PV systems in a developed country · Uses real-world operational data rather than laboratory approximations and extrapolations · Describes the dependence of one alternative energy source on the goods and services of a fossil-fueled economy · Has global implications for the potential of renewable energy sources to replace dwindling reserves of fossil fuels · Written with the first-hand knowledge of the chief, on-site engineer for many solar installations in Spain together with the leader in the development and application of the concept of EROI
Download or read book The Burning Answer written by Keith Barnham and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 2014-05-15 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our civilisation stands on the brink of catastrophe. Our thirst for energy has led to threats from global warming, nuclear disaster and conflict in oil-rich countries. We are running out of options. Solar power, Keith Barnham argues, is the answer. In this eye-opening book, he shows how a solar revolution is developing based on one of Einstein's lesser known discoveries, one that gave us laptop computers and mobile phones. An accessible guide to renewable technology and a hard-hitting critique of the arguments of solar sceptics, The Burning Answer outlines a future in which the fuel for electric cars will be generated on our rooftops. It is, above all, an impassioned call to arms to join the solar revolution before it's too late.
Download or read book Building a Brilliant Tomorrow written by T. J. Kanczuzewski and published by . This book was released on 2017-03-30 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: SOLAR ON THE RISE Just as your power bill continues to rise . . . the sun also rises. Why are we letting a renewable resource that beams down on us each day go to waste? Solar energy is no longer a distant dream of the future. It is a real, viable option for America's power needs, and T.J. Kanczuzewski of Inovateus Solar is mapping out a path for energy independence for anyone looking for clean, renewable power. Within this book, T.J. reveals how to: -Become familiar with the advancements in solar energy. -Understand how individuals and businesses are becoming independent power producers. -Gain inspiration to build a company that meets your objectives, goals, and purpose. Join the success story of an American business that has had an exponential effect on the global energy transformation, and while doing so, discover your independence--discover solar.
Download or read book The Renewable Revolution written by Sajed Kamal and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-05-13 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our environment and society is threatened by fuel shortages, a changing climate and energy wars. In our race for survival we are awakened to the simple truth that the essential condition of sustainability lies in our ability to live within the limits and renewability of natural resources. It invokes within us an urgent need for transition from an obsolete, destructive and unsustainable energy path to a sustainable path of innovation, renewable energy and peace. The good news is that the technology required to make this transition is already available. From an author with over thirty years' experience campaigning for and setting up renewable energy projects around the world, this book is unique for its interdisciplinary approach-interweaving technology, economics, environmental science, philosophy, history, spirituality and politics, asserting that to understand the crisis and find a sustainable solution requires a holistic perspective. Readers will understand the vast renewable resource we have at our disposal in the form of solar, wind, water, heat and biogas, and the technologies used to harness this power. There are also the emerging prospects of solar hydrogen fuel cells, biofuels and geothermal. The true economic advantages of a shift to a renewables-based economy (and how we can get there) are also laid out clearly. There's much to learn from examples around the world while we devise local and appropriate solutions. Written for a crossover readership of students, educators, professionals, academics, activists and policymakers, both nationally and internationally, this is a comprehensive but readable and practical book that will inspire readers to wake others up to our renewable solutions.
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 Revolution written by Howard Johns and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We need a global energy revolution. In developed nations we are wasting massive quantities of energy providing heat and light to our homes and businesses while one and a half billion people have no access to electricity at all. The existing central-power-station model is based on old technology that spews carbon, energy, and money straight up the chimney. Energy Revolution shows us how we can change all of this. Telling stories from around the world of the change that's already happening and drawing on two decades of his own unique experience, Howard Johns demonstrates how we can develop our own renewable-energy projects to provide local energy and create a new fleet of businesses. He shows us how communities can build local energy solutions--renewable-power stations that will be a new form of building society where we come together to develop, finance, and construct the infrastructure that we and future generations so desperately need. Howard Johns explains how to design, set up, and fund community energy systems, citing examples from countries that already have cut the amount of energy they use and supply their needs from renewable energy. These new systems will create new jobs and businesses, reduce energy imports, and create new local-investment models. This handbook contains the map we need to change the system from the bottom up and make the next great leap forward to achieving clean, affordable energy. It covers everything needed to structure your community power company--the technology, site assessment, legal and business planning, fundraising and financial modeling, and putting people at the heart of your strategy. It's time to take control, re-localize, reduce costs and carbon emissions, and join the energy revolution.
Download or read book Solar Revolution written by Dieter Broers and published by North Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2012-09-04 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does the sun have the power to transform humankind? In Solar Revolution, German biophysicist Dieter Broers makes a compelling case, pointing to a wealth of scientific evidence that shows a remarkable correlation between increases in solar activity and advances in our creative, mental, and spiritual abilities. We are in the midst of a dramatic rise in solar disturbances, which have the ability to affect Earth in alarming ways, disrupting the geomagnetic field, knocking out entire power grids, and influencing the development of organisms and the ecology as a whole. Remarkably, solar activity is predicted to peak toward the end of 2012—the same time the Mayans predicted the end of days. But Broers—who has for decades been studying the effect of electromagnetic fields on biological systems—sees the coming shift not as an apocalypse, but as the dawn of a new age. Drawing on research from a variety of scientific disciplines, Broers shows how this eruption of solar activity is a positive thing for humanity, that it is boosting our brain capacity and expanding our minds in ways we never imagined possible. Abilities now seen as extraordinary or supernatural—such as telepathy, extrasensory perception, and off-the-charts intelligence quotients—will become ordinary and natural ... and may very well help us solve the mounting global crises we're now facing. Without a doubt, the way we think, feel, relate, communicate, and experience reality has been changing dramatically in recent years, and Broers affirms those changes will ultimately culminate in a new form of consciousness and harmony on Earth. Humankind is going through an evolutionary leap, says Broers, and the process has already begun.
Download or read book Green Your Place in the New Energy Revolution written by Jane Hoffman and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2008-06-24 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Green will illustrate and shed new light on the gamut of issues associated with renewable energy, a topic whose importance increases exponentially with every temperature record-setting year. Jane and Michael Hoffman use their years of experience to explain the technological and economic future of this ecologically significant issue. They incisively explain its politics: what countries are doing right now and, most importantly, what the U.S. should be doing. Green will cut through the hype and polemics surrounding ecologically friendly technologies and present the unvarnished truth. It will guide the reader through the misinformation and confusion over global warming, and demonstrate the degree to which renewable energy can be part of the solution.
Download or read book Asia s Energy Revolution written by Joseph Jacobelli and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2021-06-21 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Asia is home to 60 per cent of the world's population, including the world's two most populous nations, China and India. The region's economic gains and rising middle class are accelerating demand for more consumer goods and a better quality of life. For further economic growth to be realised, the region will need a massive supply of additional energy, three- to five-fold 2020’s amount by 2050. These changes create new business and investment opportunities for domestic companies and overseas participants. Asia’s energy market, already the world’s biggest, will soon be the most advanced. There will be mass adoption of digital technologies, like artificial intelligence, to make the distribution of solar, wind and other clean resources, smarter and more efficient. Led by China, billions of dollars in capital investment will drive the region's shift to green, sustainable energy, replacing polluting and expensive fossil fuels, which will help to rein in climate change. In Asia’s Energy Revolution, leading energy markets analyst and practitioner Joseph Jacobelli explains why Asia is the world’s most important territory for energy transition, how developments in the region will drive change in the rest of the world as well as how it will all be financed. The book discussion includes: Analysis of past events and forward-looking analysis of the industry in the region encompassing commercial, economic, and financial aspects Appraisal of new energy technologies, such as electric vehicles, and digital solutions, such as blockchain for energy Review of the capital flows and sustainable financing channels needed to fund energy infrastructure and tech growth
Download or read book Physics of Solar Energy written by C. Julian Chen and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-08-15 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: PHYSICS OF Solar Energy Science/Physics/Energy The definitive guide to the science of solar energy You hold in your hands the first, and only, truly comprehensive guide to the most abundant and most promising source of alternative energy—solar power. In recent years, all major countries in the world have been calling for an energy revolution. The renewable energy industry will drive a vigorous expansion of the global economy and create more “green” jobs. The use of fossil fuels to power our way of living is moving toward an inevitable end, with sources of coal, petroleum, and natural gas being fiercely depleted. Solar energy offers a ubiquitous, inexhaustible, clean, and highly efficient way of meeting the energy needs of the twenty-first century. This book is designed to give the reader a solid footing in the general and basic physics of solar energy, which will be the basis of research and development in new solar engineering technologies in the years to come. As solar technologies like solar cells, solar thermal power generators, solar water heaters, solar photochemistry applications, and solar space heating-cooling systems become more and more prominent, it has become essential that the next generation of energy experts—both in academia and industry—have a one-stop resource for learning the basics behind the science, applications, and technologies afforded by solar energy. This book fills that need by laying the groundwork for the projected rapid expansion of future solar projects.
Download or read book Energy Revolution written by Howard Geller and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the policy options for mitigating or removing the entrenched advantages held by fossil fuels and speeding the transition to a more sustainable energy future, one based on improved efficiency and a shift to renewable sources such as solar, wind, and bioenergy.[publisher web site].
