50 Energy Books

Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air by David MacKay Read the book for free here . Main Points: Society has an addiction to fossil fuels, as the developed world gets 80-90% of our energy from fossil fuels. Why is this not sustainable? Three reasons. Easily accessible fossil fuels is a finite resource, consuming them creates massive carbon dioxide emissions, and our security is determined by our dependence on others for fossil fuels.  Understanding sustainable energy in terms of comprehensible and comparable quantities is rather simple: 1 kWh is one lightbulb for 24 hours. We consume 3kWh/day of food. Our bath is 5 kWh. A liter of petroleum is 10 kWh. If you drive 100 km you use 80 kWh. If you fl then you may use 10,000 kWh.  How fast we use energy? We use 80kWh/day by running a standard North American house.  The average European spends 125 kWh/day The average American spends 250 kWh/day 1 kWh/day ~ 40 Watts Switching off a phone charger for an entire day is the

Consider a Spherical Cow: A Course in Environmental Problem Solving by John Harte Main Points: What is the "spherical cow" joke ? The phrase comes from a joke about theoreticians I first heard as a graduate student. Milk production at a dairy farm was low so the farmer wrote to the local university, asking help from academia. A multidisciplinary team of professors was assembled, headed by a theoretical physicist, and two weeks of intensive on-site investigation took place. The scholars then returned to the university, notebooks crammed with data, where the task of writing the report was left to the team leader. Shortly thereafter the farmer received the write-up and opened it to read on the first line: "Consider a spherical cow..." The Approach : The spherical cow approach to problem solving involves the stripping away of unnecessary detail, so that only the essentials remain. Of course, approaching the complex world from the spherical cow perspective

Should We Risk It? by Daniel M. Kammen & David M. Hassenzahl Main Points: " I began by trying to quantify technical risks, thinking that if they were 'put into perspective' through comparison with familiar risks we could better judge their social acceptability. I am ashamed now of my naivety, although I have the excuse that this was more than 20 years ago, while some people are still doing it today. "- Harry Otway (1992) Background: Daniel Kammen teaches a course at UC Berkeley called "Environmental Classics" where they rotate through key papers/books like Amory Lovins' paper "A Road Not Taken", the Wedges paper. They read the original items- the critiques that came at the time and the critiques that come after. Only Silent Spring  becomes a fixture in the course year after year.  Take a look at Kammen's lab RAEL and BREG  for sustainability tools and what tools we need to alter the dialogue around clean energy or sus

Renewables: The Politics of a Global Energy Transition by Michaël Aklin and Johannes Urpelainen Main Points:  “Renewables: The Politics of a Global Energy Transition” explores why certain countries like Germany and Denmark were so successful in sustaining a renewable energy transition, while other countries like the US, France, and UK have not.  The answer: a mix of policies (feed-in tariffs), pro-renewable agricultural cooperatives, private ownership of renewables by communities of citizens. Whereas the US made renewables highly politicized. So when did renewable energy become so politicized in the US? The 1980’s. The graph in the infographic shows that the pre-Reagan and post-Reagan divide in Congressional votes on legislation pertaining to renewable adoption. The gap grows pretty wide before 1981 vs. after 1981.  J. Uprelainen posits that certain external shocks create windows of opportunity for renewables to penetrate the status quo (called "carbon lock-in")

Cold Cash, Cool Climate by Jon Koomey, PhD Main Points: Jon Koomey's talk is about computing energy efficiency. He had worked at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and now is at the Steyer-Taylor Center.  The computing trend that will change everything- revolutionary change is going to be driven by the energy efficiency of computing and devices. Enabling proliferation of gadgets that are cheap, smart, small, connected, and low power.  Example: Proteus Biomedical makes a device that goes inside a placebo pill and the digestive system juices sends a signal to a device on your skin that tells the doctor when you take your medication. Research question: How has the energy efficiency of computing changed over time? Number of components in an IC vs. Manufacturing Cost per component. The minimum point of the curve is the point of lowest cost of production. The progression of the minimum points of these curves is Moore's Law. Work for servers- energy use, cost, and

The Great Texas Wind Rush By Kate Galbraith and Asher Price Main Points: In 2006, Texas was passing California to become the nation's #1 wind power state.  Texas remains number one in wind power (12,000 megawatts) and about 9% on the Texas electric grid came from wind. The next closest state (California) has less than half of the amount that Texas does.  On particular windy days, the amount of wind power on the Texas grid climbs above 20%.  Texas wind themes Relationship between wind power and oil Connection between Texas wind and Texas music Jay Carter Sr and Jay Carter Jr operated out of Burkburnett (couple hours north of Dallas in what was once considered Boomtown USA), one of many towns in the US where oil was booming.  Texas wind predates the 1970's energy crisis. Even 150 years ago wind power was going strong in the Great Plains (water windmills helped pull water out of the aquifer so that the plains could be fruitful). Midlands Texas was known as the w