Renewable Energy Cannot Sustain a Consumer Society PDF Download

Author: Ted Trainer
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402055498
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
It is widely assumed that our consumer society can move from using fossil fuels to using renewable energy sources while maintaining the high levels of energy use to which we have become accustomed. This book details the reasons why this almost unquestioned assumption is seriously mistaken. It challenges fundamental assumptions and stimulates the discussion about our common future in a way that will be of interest to professionals and lay-readers alike.

Author: David L. Goldblatt
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9781402030864
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
This multidisciplinary study combines social science, energy analysis, and risk communication, using theory, research, and computer-aided interviews to illustrate the range and relative effectiveness of interventions that support sustainable energy consumption. Based on award-winning research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, the book combines analytical modeling techniques with social science on sustainable consumption.

Author: Fereidoon P. Sioshansi
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 9780123851376
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 640

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Book Description
The complexity of carbon reduction and economic sustainability is significantly complicated by competing aspects of socioeconomic practices as well as legislative, regulatory, and scientific requirements and protocols. An easy to read and understand guide, Sioshansi, along with an international group of contributors, moves through the maze of carbon reduction methods and technologies, providing steps and insights to meet carbon reduction requirements and maintaining the health and welfare of the firm. The book’s three part treatment is based on a clear and rigorous exposition of a wide range of options to reduce the carbon footprint Part 1 of the book, Challenge of Sustainability, examines the fundamental drivers of energy demand – economic growth, the need for basic energy services, and the interdependence of economic, political, environmental, social, equity, legacy and policy issues. Part 2 of the book, Technological Solutions, examines how energy can be used to support basic energy service needs of homes, commercial and industrial facilities and for other applications. Part 3 of the book, case studies, covers a number of innovative projects, initiatives, concepts or self-imposed targets in different parts of the world with the aim of significantly reducing energy use and carbon footprint of a company, a community, a city or an entire country. There was a widespread recognition among environmental engineers and energy economist of the importance of carbon reduction while sustaining the firm’s economic growth. The only book to bring together both subjects into one easy to understand reference, Carbon Reduction and Economic Sustainability not only clearly explains which option has the lowest energy/carbon footprint but also which option would better suit the business in question. This includes carbon reduction for residential, transport, industrial and public sectors. The only book to clearly explain the economic and environmental engineering aspects of carbon reduction. Case studies taken from a number of international projects. Carbon reduction options for all sectors of society. The role of the planning system in carbon reduction.

Author: E.H. Bernstein
Publisher: Page Publishing Inc
ISBN: 1645847152
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 375

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Book Description
This book is volume II of a planned three volume book plus supplementary website, www.bookabout books.com, which will present some books and subjects not contained in the books. A Book about Books discusses what nonfiction books and subjects the author believes are important to know about. Volume I is available from the same booksellers as this volume. Volume III will take several years before it is available. E.H. Bernstein is a former librarian turned author. The subtitle of the book describes the author's objective: "A handbook in three volumes to a choice of essential books, writers and subjects in order to understand the world we live in, about ‘big questions' and possible answers, about books and writers that may improve people's lives, about neglected writers, and other books and subjects." A Book about Books attempts to share what the author has learned from nearly 50 years of nonfiction reading and to provide the reader with samples of the most important authors and subjects from that reading. While the book is based on research, it is intended to be a handbook or guide by trying to make that research understandable to the general reader and to students, and for teachers--by pointing to what the author believes is missing from today's education. A curriculum proposal for college teachers is on the website. Note about how the volumes are related: each chapter is on a separate subject. So the chapters can be read individually, but the full message requires reading all the volumes. Volume I is important, but preliminary to the more important Volumes II and III. Note also that the book is not just about books, since other sources are also mentioned. This book tries to point to problems in how we live and to see if books have any answers. Note that the author believes we should listen to many voices, so the book draws on many types of writers from different times and countries. A contemporary writer once said that one of the purposes of writing is that books should be useful. I hope that my book will be of use.

Author: Andrew P. Morriss
Publisher: Cato Institute
ISBN: 1935308424
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
The False Promise of Green Energy illustrates the irresponsibility of attempting to transform modern society with borrowed money, wishful thinking, and bad economics. It shows how the top-down control programs offered by green-energy and green-jobs advocates are unlikely to achieve positive results compared with allowing competitive forces to continue to provide ever greater environmental quality and energy efficiencies.

Author: Jeremy L. Caradonna
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197625053
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
From one of the world's leading experts on the subject, a fully updated introduction to the sustainability movement from the 1600s to today The word is nearly ubiquitous: at the grocery store we shop for "sustainable foods" that were produced from "sustainable agriculture"; groups ranging from small advocacy organizations to city and state governments to the United Nations tout "sustainable development" as a strategy for local and global stability; and woe betide the city-dweller who doesn't aim for a "sustainable lifestyle." Seeming to have come out of nowhere to dominate the discussion-from permaculture to renewable energy to the local food movement-the ideas that underlie and define sustainability can be traced back several centuries. In this illuminating and fascinating primer, newly revised and updated, Jeremy L. Caradonna does just that, approaching sustainability from a historical perspective and revealing the conditions that gave it shape. Locating the underpinnings of the movement as far back as the 1660s, Caradonna considers the origins of sustainability across many fields throughout Europe and North America. Taking us from the emergence of thoughts guiding sustainable yield forestry in the late 17th and 18th centuries, through the challenges of the Industrial Revolution, the birth of the environmental movement, and the emergence of a concrete effort to promote a balanced approach to development in the latter half of the 20th century, he shows that while sustainability draws upon ideas of social justice, ecological economics, and environmental conservation, it is more than the sum of its parts and blends these ideas together into a dynamic philosophy. Caradonna's book broadens our understanding of what "sustainability" means, revealing how it progressed from a relatively marginal concept to an ideal that shapes everything from individual lifestyles, government and corporate strategies, and even national and international policy. For anyone seeking understand the history of those striving to make the world a better place to live, here's a place to start.

Author: Constance Lever-Tracy
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135998493
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 671

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Book Description
As the time-scales of natural change accelerate and converge with those of society, Routledge Handbook of Climate Change and Society takes the reader into largely uncharted territory in its exploration of anthropogenic climate change. Current material is used to highlight the global impact of this issue, and the necessity for multidisciplinary and global social science research and teaching to address the problem. The book is multidisciplinary and worldwide in scope, with contributors spanning specialisms including agro-forestry, economics, environmentalism, ethics, human geography, international relations, law, politics, psychology, sociology and theology. Their global knowledge is reflected in the content of the text, which encompasses chapters on American, European and Chinese policies, case studies of responses to disasters and of the new technological and lifestyle alternatives that are being adopted, and the negotiations leading up to the Copenhagen conference alongside a preface assessing its outcomes. Starting with an initial analysis by a leading climatologist, key issues discussed in the text include recent findings of natural scientists, social causation and vulnerability, media and public recognition or scepticism, and the merits and difficulties of actions seeking to mitigate and adapt. This accessible volume utilizes a wealth of case studies, explains technical terms and minimises the use of acronyms associated with the subject, making it an essential text for advanced undergraduates, postgraduate students and researchers in the social sciences.

Author: Joel Magnuson
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
ISBN: 1609804805
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
"A brave book by a smart person with a masterful command of economic theory."—Publisher's Weekly How should we act and think economically in the world as the era of cheap oil comes to an end? The Approaching Great Transformation begins to answer this massive question, focusing on the people and communities already at work on the transition: energy descent pioneers in the UK and the US educating their communities about the road ahead, small enterprises defying traditional “profit” in favor of permanence and sustainability, and cities preparing for a post carbon future. Highlighting the work of thinkers like John Ruskin and E. F. Schumacher, Magnuson here builds on his previous book, Mindful Economics.

Author: Alexis Zeigler
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
ISBN: 1583946047
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
How do peak oil, climate change, and the limits of growth affect abortion rights, income equality, and civil liberty? In this impassioned treatise, author and activist Alexis Zeigler reveals the hidden connections between ecology, economics, politics, and social justice—and shows us how to use these connections to effect real, long-lasting change. Most activist movements, says Zeigler, suffer from a kind of tunnel vision in which the true causes and resulting side effects of the desired change are left unexamined—rendering the movements shortsighted and unaware of their own long-term fallout. We cannot effectively address our problems in isolation or with ecological blinders on. Instead we must integrate our activism and ensure that all strategies and actions take into account the historically demonstrated fact that a society’s environmental resources ultimately define its level of freedom, fairness, and financial equity. Packed with surprising facts and eye-opening arguments, Integrated Activism is a must-read not only for every serious activist, but also for anyone looking for a solid, creditable philosophy and approach to building a fairer, freer, more sustainable future.

Author: Chinese Academy of Engineering
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309160006
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
The United States and China are the world's top two energy consumers and, as of 2010, the two largest economies. Consequently, they have a decisive role to play in the world's clean energy future. Both countries are also motivated by related goals, namely diversified energy portfolios, job creation, energy security, and pollution reduction, making renewable energy development an important strategy with wide-ranging implications. Given the size of their energy markets, any substantial progress the two countries make in advancing use of renewable energy will provide global benefits, in terms of enhanced technological understanding, reduced costs through expanded deployment, and reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions relative to conventional generation from fossil fuels. Within this context, the U.S. National Academies, in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), reviewed renewable energy development and deployment in the two countries, to highlight prospects for collaboration across the research to deployment chain and to suggest strategies which would promote more rapid and economical attainment of renewable energy goals. Main findings and concerning renewable resource assessments, technology development, environmental impacts, market infrastructure, among others, are presented. Specific recommendations have been limited to those judged to be most likely to accelerate the pace of deployment, increase cost-competitiveness, or shape the future market for renewable energy. The recommendations presented here are also pragmatic and achievable.