Author: Gretchen Bakke
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 162040124X
Size: 18.25 MB
Format: PDF, Docs
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384
View: 6241
One of Bill Gates's Favorite Books of 2016 A revelatory look at our national power grid--how it developed, its current flaws, and how it must be completely reimagined for our fast-approaching energy future. America's electrical grid, an engineering triumph of the twentieth century, is turning out to be a poor fit for the present. It's not just that the grid has grown old and is now in dire need of basic repair. Today, as we invest great hope in new energy sources--solar, wind, and other alternatives--the grid is what stands most firmly in the way of a brighter energy future. If we hope to realize this future, we need to reimagine the grid according to twenty-first-century values. It's a project which forces visionaries to work with bureaucrats, legislators with storm-flattened communities, moneymen with hippies, and the left with the right. And though it might not yet be obvious, this revolution is already well under way. Cultural anthropologist Gretchen Bakke unveils the many facets of America's energy infrastructure, its most dynamic moments and its most stable ones, and its essential role in personal and national life. The grid, she argues, is an essentially American artifact, one which developed with us: a product of bold expansion, the occasional foolhardy vision, some genius technologies, and constant improvisation. Most of all, her focus is on how Americans are changing the grid right now, sometimes with gumption and big dreams and sometimes with legislation or the brandishing of guns. The Grid tells--entertainingly, perceptively--the story of what has been called "the largest machine in the world": its fascinating history, its problematic present, and its potential role in a brighter, cleaner future.
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Author: Gordon Ettie
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781450782234
Size: 61.82 MB
Format: PDF, Mobi
Category : Investment analysis
Languages : en
Pages : 202
View: 1678
Power Plug-In: Global Investments for Our Energy Future and Solutions to Our Energy Dilemma is a daring and controversial book which takes a very cold clear look at the impact current energy sources have had on our world and offers educated analysis and recommendations for future investment in global energy development and research. Energy dependence is destroying our world. That's the problem. Energy independence can save it. That's the solution. How to construct the global bridge between these two seemingly distant and unreachable points and how to make the best investment decisions to ensure the continuation of the flow of energy are the dual goals of this book. Consider the traditional sources of energy-coal, oil, nuclear, gas, and their centuries of influence on the global village and its societies. Each of these has brought enormous wealth and technological development but at a tremendous cost-the erosion of the substructure of the very world we are trying to improve. The big question is, can we as a world society continue to grow and develop using the energy sources currently available to us with all their environmental, economic, and dwindling supply or do we need to accelerate our search for a truly international approach to energy? And equally important where should precious investment dollars be allocated for the future. The answers, which will be as surprising as they are controversial, will be found in Power Plug-In: Global Investments for Our Energy FuturePower Plug-In offers a radical and debate-stirring proposal for our energy future and proposes a bold solution which lies not in narrow national projects but in a wide reaching global cooperation.The author, an expert in both energy and investments who has spent his entire career in the energy industry first as an engineer, then as a CEO and finally as a major financial player and investor examines each energy source and offers his educated analysis and recommendations for future investment in global energy development and research for both individual and organizational investors.This is an energy book that will make a difference.
