DOCUMENT RESUME ED 228 081 SE 041 278 AUTHOR Deudney, Daniel; Flavin, Christopher TITLE Renewable Energy. The _Power to Choose. INSTITUTION Worldwatch Inst., Washington, D.C. 4-- , REPORT NO ISBN-0-3937,01710-9 PUB DATE 83 NOTE . 445p. AVAILABLi FROMW. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500Fifth Avenue, New York; NY 10110 ($18.95). .PUg TYPE" Reports - General (140) -- Books (010) EDRS PRICE 41F01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS Building Design; Energy; Energy Occupations; Environmental Education; Fuel Consumption; *Fuels; Industry; *Poker Technology; *Solar Energy; *Technological Advancement; *Wind Energy IDENTIFIERS *Alternative Energy Sources; Energy Education;\ Geothermal Energy; *Renewable Energy Resources ABSTRACT. This book, consisting of 13 chapters, charts the progress made in renewableenergy in recent'years and outlines renewable energy's prospects. Arias addressedinclude: energy at the crossroads (discussing oil, gas,,coal, nuclear power, and the conservation revolution); 'solar buildingdesign; solar collection; sunlight to electricity; wood; energy from crops.andwaste; energy 'from water; wind energy; and geothermal energy.Additional areas addressed include renewable energy'spote4ial (discussing rebuilding, industry role, renewable energy for the farmand rural poor, and issues related totransportation and electricity); institutions,for the-transition to renewable energy(focusing.on a new researchanedevelopment.agenda, renewable energy technology--vernacular technology, and.seed moneyfor the transition to renewable energy); and shapes of arenewable society (coniidering new lands9apes, renewablejobs, rebalancing city and country,rising regional/local self-reliance, shifting powere and newbalances between rich/po-or, between nations, andbetween *generatiOns). Notes and selected references are providedfor each chapter. Notes on energy units and an index arealso provkded. (JN) * * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that canbe made * * from the original document. **********************v********************************************* 1.4 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION NATIONALINSTITUTE OF EDUCATION .EDUCATIONAL fiESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC{ liThodocurnaq hasbeen reproduced es recenredfrornthe ptrson orwpm:soon oognatun n Mootchanges have been made to impove reproductronquaky 41. Pants of oar, or %unions stated tn thes docu mem do not nocessanly represent officerNI Doman or poky "PERMISSIOPN TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL IN MICROFICHE ONLY HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENAR (ERIC) , i- - . Norton/Worldwatch Books , 1 LesteA. Brown: The Twenty-Ninth Day: Accommodating Human Needs and Numbers to the Earth's Resources , .. - Lester R. Brown: Building a Sustainable Society . Lester R. Brown, Christopher Flavin, and Colin Norman: Running on Empty: The Future of the .Automobile in an Oil-Short World , Daniel Deudney and Christopher Flavin. Renewable Eriergy: The Power to Choose, Erik P. Eckholm: Ewing Ground: Environmental Stress and World Food Prospects , , Erik 13. Eckholm: The Picture of Health: E*ironmental Sources of Disease t_. Denis Hayes: Rays of Hope: The Transidon to a - Post-Petroleutn 'World Kathleen Newland: The Sisterhood of Man 40 Colin Norman: The God That Limps: Science and Technology in the Eighties / Bruce Stokes: Helping Ourselves; Local Solutions to ,Global Problems . .. 1 All ' tit , Renewable 1 Energy .0 The Power to Choose fi r . Daniel Deudney . and ../ Christopher Flavin . A WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE BOOK t r W .W . NORTON & COMPANY New York London AO *I i ., \ .., , Copyright © 1983 by Worldwatch Institute c All rights reserved. Published simultaneously in Canada by George J. McLeod . Limited, Toronto. Printed in the united States of America. The text of this book is composed in Avanta, with display type set in Baker Signd ,Composition and manufacturing by The Haddon,Crafisman, Inc r 1 FIRST EDITION Library cif Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Deudney, Daniel. Renewableenergy "A Warldwatch Institute book." k Includes index 1 Renewable energy sources. 2' Energy policy I.,Flavin, Christoper II. Title. Tj163.2 D476 1983 533.7982-1445 4 .. IP ISBN 0-393-01710-9 W W Norton & t.ompany, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N Y. 101 10 W W Norton & Company Ltd,, 37 Great Russdl Street, London WCrB 3Ntl. 113 4 5 67 890 'It' 1 . 4 . To our parents I. 4e- ,-2 Contents o Preface xi 1. Introduction: The Power to Choose 1 , ft 2.Energy at the Cossroads 8 The Oil aollercoaster 9 Natural'Cas:A Temporary Buffer 16 4'ing Coal . 18 Nuclear Power: Too Bieak to Meter 24 The Conservation Revolution 31 < viii Contents 3.Building with the Sun 35 Energy and Architecture 36 Climate-Sensitive Design 41 Off the Drawing Board 47 New Policies for New Buildings 52 Building for the Future *55 4.Solar Collection 57 Heating %Voter and Buildings 59 . Solar Energy for Rural Development . 64 ,r An Evolving Teehno logy 69 Sun on the Waters: Solar Ponds and Ocean ' Thermal Energy, Conversion 74 Barriers and Incentives 78 The Solar Prospect' 84, 5.Sunlight to Electricity: The New Vaiemy 87 . A Space-Age Technology 89 Research Horizons 92 Building an Industry 97". A Future for Solar Po4er ,ioci 6.Wood Crisis, Wood Renaissance 107 An Ancient Fuel in CrisiS. ,i 108 The Return to Wood 112 - New Uses for -Wood 115 A Growing Resource in Stress . 121 Reforesting the Earth 126 The WoodpEnergy Prospect 132 7.Growing Fuels: Energy from Crops and Waste st. 136 The Ethanol BOom 137 Exploiting a Many-Sided Resource Base 144 Agricultural Wastes: The Forgotten Asset '148 Contents ix Eneigy from Urban Wastes -Promise and Peril: The Planttwer Prospect 159 Rivers of Energy 164 The Power of Falling Water 165 Big OpportUnities and Big Problems 168 Maintaining Momentum 175 Small-Scale Hydropower for Rural Development 179 Making Better Use of Existing Dams 184 The Hydropower Prospect 4 188 9.Wind Power: A Turning Point 191 Harnessing the Wind 192 A Renaissance for Wind Pumps 196 Clear Sailing 199 Electricity from Small Wind Machines 200 Wind Power for Utilities 263 Obstacles and Opportunities 207 Wind's .E nergy Prospect 213 10.Geothermal Energy: The .Powering Inferno 218 Subterranean Fires 219 The Earth's Energy in Harness %..)221 Technological Frontiers 225 Gebthermat Horizons 228 Hot-Water Institutigus 230 The Geothermal Prospect 233 11.Working Toget&r: Renewable Energy's Potential 236,, Rebuilding 237 A Fresh Start for Industry 241 Renewable Energy on the Farm 243 Energy for the Rural Poor 245 Transportation Dilemmas 249 x , Contents Sustainable Electricity 252 Adding Up the Numbers 255 12.Institutions for the Transition 260 A New R&D Agenda 261 Using Vernacular Technologies 269 Seed Money: Financing the Transition 275 Opening Up the Grid . 283 Empowering People ,289 13.Shapes of a Renewabl Society 297 New Landscapes 298 Renewable Jobs 301 Rebalancing City and Country 303 Rising Self-Reliance 305 Shifting Power 309 New Equalities 312 k Notes 317 . Note on Energy Units 397 Selected References 399 Index 413 o , t ) 1 0 Preface The decade since the 1973 Arab oil embaigo has been a remarkable one for renewable energy. The major shift in the econoinics of energy that began in the early seventies har- nessed the technological capacities of the late twentieth cen- tury. Since then the world's scientists, engineers, businessmen, and ordirthry citizens have been hard at work in a vigorous search for new sources of energy. New ideas and inventions continue to command attention in technical journals and news- papers almost daily. Increasingly, solar collectors: wind ma- chines, biogas digesters, and many other renewable energy technologies are becoming practical everyday devices used throughout the world. xii 1)reface Renewable Energy. The Power to Choose charts the progress made in renewable energy in recent years and outlines renew- able energy's prospects. The focus is on practitalghere-and-now technologies, and our intention 4 to be realistic yet hopeful. We suggest a strategy for making the trans* to renewable energy and evaluate the impact these changes could have on different parts of the world. Great progress has been made in ihinlcing about energy in the last decade. Pk' to1973,energy analysis seemed to consist mainly of drawing exponEntial curves that were intended to forecast future trends by assuming that past trends would con- tinue. Today's world is much more compleiand uncertain, and major strides have been taken in understanding the underlying factors at work in energy trends, a fact from which we have benefited greatly. The pioneering work of Amory Lovins has contributed particularly to our thinking. We are grateful to the U.S. Solar Energy Research Institute and the George Gund Foundatia for supporting the reseirch and Writing of this book. The Worldwatch Institute provided an ideal setting for the project with its access to a wide array of information sources as well as -a bright and capable stiff. Lester Brown, the president of tWorldwatch, originally sug- gested the writing of this book, and he provided ideas and enthusiastic support throughout. - membeis of the Worldwatch Institute staff who re- 9ther viewed the manuscript and made helpful criticisms are Kath- leen Newland, Pamela Shaw, and Bruce Stokes. Much cif the research for the book was carried out by Worldwatch research assistants Ann Thrupp, Paige TOlbert, and Edward Wolf. And special.thanks.are owed to the entire Worldwatch support staff for its immense help throughout this project. Dozens of people outside of Worldwatch provided com-