Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air
Sustainable Energy – without the hot air David J.C. MacKay Draft 2.9.0 – August 28, 2008 Department of Physics University of Cambridge http://www.withouthotair.com/ ii Back-cover blurb Sustainable energy — without the hot air Category: Science. How can we replace fossil fuels? How can we ensure security of energy supply? How can we solve climate change? We’re often told that “huge amounts of renewable power are available” – wind, wave, tide, and so forth. But our current power consumption is also huge! To understand our sustainable energy crisis, we need to know how the one “huge” compares with the other. We need numbers, not adjectives. In this book, David MacKay, Professor in Physics at Cambridge Univer- sity, shows how to estimate the numbers, and what those numbers depend on. As a case study, the presentation focuses on the United Kingdom, ask- ing first “could Britain live on sustainable energy resources alone?” and second “how can Britain make a realistic post-fossil-fuel energy plan that The author, July 2008. adds up?” Photo by David Stern. These numbers bring home the size of the changes that society must undergo if sustainable living is to be achieved. Don’t be afraid of this book’s emphasis on numbers. It’s all basic stuff, accessible to high school students, policy-makers and the thinking pub- lic. To have a meaningful discussion about sustainable energy, we need numbers. This is Draft 2.9.0 (August 28, 2008). You are looking at the low- resolution edition (i.e., some images are low-resolution to save bandwidth).
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