50 Energy Books

Electricity System Planning with Distributed Energy Resources by Jesse Jenkins (PhD Thesis, MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society) Main Points: Who:  Dr. Jesse Jenkins is a recent graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned an MS in Technology & Policy, and a PhD in Engineering Systems. He worked as a researcher in the MIT Energy Initiative research consortium studying the evolution of the delivery of electricity services and the role of distributed energy resources in the power system of the Future. He is an NSF graduate Research Fellow and was the former Director of the Breakthrough Institute's Energy and Climate Program.  What : This PhD Thesis offers a new framework for electricity system capacity planning with distributed energy resources and flexible and price-responsive demand.  Dr. Jenkins first uses AC power flow simulations to derive equations on resistive losses and net demand reduction. He then uses these equat

Burn Out: The Endgame for Fossil Fuels by Dieter Helm Main Points: Immediate Challenges : Trump Executive Orders, Chinese Coal-to-Liquid, Sale of Aramco Stake, Russian Arctic Drilling, Keystone Pipeline, smart meters, etc. Three Big Structural Changes : Long run oil price End of the commodity super-cycle and fall of oil prices. Oil price will fall forever and $50 is a high price for oil. The price might spike, but the long-term trend is constant. Supply increases as oil prices fall. Decarbonization Unstoppable and we need to do better to make progress on climate change. Digitalization of the Economy Radical technical change (robots/AI/3D printing/ electric cars) and what is going to happen to our economies. New technologies and digitalization will impact economies. The future of energy will be about electricity. Two promising aspects of solar technology: (1) opening the larger extent of the solar spectrum (2) transformation of absorption to actual

Tesla: Inventor of the Modern by Richard Munson "With ideas it is like with dizzy heights you climb: At first they cause you discomfort and you are anxious to get down, distrustful of your own powers; but soon the remoteness of the turmoil of life and the inspiring influence of the altitude calm your blood; your step gets firm and sure and you begin to look-for dizzier heights." -  Nikola Tesla, "Address on the Dedication of Niagara Falls", 1897 Main Points: Mark Twain holding a light bulb, as Nikola Tesla watches in the back. Tesla had 300 patents: electric motor, long distance transmission, robot, remote control, and radio technology. Foresaw vertical lift aircraft, cell phones, AI, etc.  Magician: he would admit that electricity was force that even physicists couldn't understand. The ability to transmit power and electricity over long distances. Tesla coil and make lamps glow that were not attached to wires. Both practical in making system

Thirst for Power: Energy, Water, and Human Survival by Michael E. Webber Main Points: "Water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink" is the famous saying by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in  The Rime of the Ancient Mariner  (1798) Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Energy Institute at the UT-Austin Life is water and energy is wealth (quality of life). When NASA goes to look for life, they are looking for water.  Water - Societies have understood that control of water is the control of power No reason to go beyond 100k or 200k city systems without a water system 政治 or "policy" or "politics" have water radicals Cambodian empire built a water structure that looks like a temple Water enables life and civilization and droughts can eliminate societies Tang, Yuan, Ming dynasties of China collapsed due to drought. They found stalactites in caves in western China show us the mineral record and annual wetness for 1800 years.

Energy: A Human History by Richard Rhodes Main Points: Primary Energy Substitution by Cesare Marchetti, 1996 Interesting to Note: Remarkable regularities from one major source of electricity to another Vienna Chart in 1970 (Applied Systems Analysis) - looked at the fraction of world energy for various world energy sources starting in 1850. Wood was in sharp decline in late 1800's, Coal was rising and reached its peak around 1930/1940, natural gas and nuclear came earlier. Oil did too. Because it takes so long to transition from 1% to 50% of the world energy supply, any new supply at the turn of the millennium it will not get too far. Energy as Life Graph: Life Expectancy at birth vs. Per Capita GNP where the egalitarian life expectancy of 70 years can be achieved if you have a per capita GNP of $4800. GNP graph has countries that has different energy intensities, and efficiency is very important. Rise in Temperature of the last 150 years: follows a sigmoi