50 Energy Books

Green Energy for a Billion Poor: How Grameen Shakti Created a Winning Model for Social Business by Nancy Wimmer Main Points: "Grameen" means rural. "Shakti" means energy or force of power flowing through. Shakti also means "the Divin Mother" or female energy. In 1976, Mohammad Yunus loaned $27 to forty-two people to start their own small businesses. This opened the world's eyes to the genius of micro loans. Thirty years later his Grameen bank boasts over 7 million borrowers and a 99% loan repayment rate. Yunus was teaching at a University in Chittagong in Bangladesh when the country was going through a famine. He noticed the money lending principles and how harsh they are. He started taking the loans on behalf of other people, and started loaning that money out to others. So he created the Grameen Bank. Every month they are opening 40, 50, 60 branches and every month they are disbursing $60-70 million. In 2006, Yunus earned the Nobel Peac

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough and Michael Braungart Main Points: What is Cradle to Cradle ?  Cradle to Cradle is a design concept inspired by nature, in which products are created according to the principles of an ideal circular economy. This differentiates Cradle to Cradle from conventional recycling and the concept of eco-efficiency. It is about eco-effectiveness and goes beyond conventional sustainability tools and approaches, which primarily show the negative influence of humans on the environment. ( EPEA ) Design is the first signal of human intention. What are our intentions? What would our intentions be as a species, now that we are the dominant species? It isn't stewardship or dominion debate.  Guardian: How can we secure local society, create world peace, and save the environment? Commerce: How do we generate prosperity?  Design: How do we love all the children of all species for all time? Current design has no end g

Creating Climate Wealth by Jigar Shah Main Points : How do we take the power of capitalism and channel it in a way that is constructive? Capitalism is about getting to a democratized version of it. Some of the utility companies and the coal companies are running as virtual monopolies- secured rail rights and their individual mining rights. Set of companies are selling infrastructure $1 million at a time, not $1 billion- this is democratization of capitalism. In the climate change movement, when you are putting solar on rooftops, putting fleets of EV's in cities, or low tech in agriculture you are selling consumers on projects $1 million/time.   Before SunEdison : Jigar grew up in a small town in rural Illinois. People substitute capital with labor- mow their own lawn, because they don't have the means to pay people $300/week. Jigar's dad was a doctor in Rock Falls, Illinois and went through entrepreneurial ventures- money was tight and tough decisions needed to

Three Revolutions: Steering Automated, Shared, and Electric Vehicles to a Better Future by Professor Daniel Sperling, Founding Director & Professor, Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis; Board member of California Air Resources Board Main Points: Intelligent vehicle and highway systems (IVHS)  1991- Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis is founded   Define “revolution”: a fundamental change in the way of thinking about or visualizing something and a changeover in use or preference, especially in technology.    Three Revolutions:  1.) Electrification  a. Enabler: 2008 better batteries/power electronics, 2010 Nissan Leaf, and 2012 Tesla Model S.  b. Goal: Electric vehicles  c. History: 1990- California adopts a zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate to curb air pollution blanketing Los Angeles. California amped up these mandates in 2012 to reach 15% penetration.   2.) Shared Use  a. Enabler: Iphone 7  b. Goal: Pooling – filling our buses,