Ten Technologies to Fix Energy and Climate [Kindle Edition]

Here's what Stephen Balbach (top 500 reviewer) said about this book over on Amazon US:

This is an absolutely excellent overview of the current state of green/clean technology and solutions to global warming.

I thought I already knew a lot about clean technology through blogs, science news and other books - and Goodall is current with the latest news up to early 2008. But there was hardly a page I did not learn something new, or had my perspectives changed about specific technologies. This is not starry-eyed techno optimism, nor a pessimists dark vision. Goodall takes a sober non-ideological and even-handed engineering perspective with lightly placed pronouncements on the viability of technologies, both good and bad, often convincingly overturning perceived wisdom and myth. The book would also make an excellent primer for anyone looking to invest in clean technology, it cuts through the hype and quickly gets to the bottom line of energy units and costs, and the risks of each technology. My copy is dogeared with some of the best specific products and companies to look into as investment potentials.

The chapter titles say a lot:

1. Capturing the wind
2. Solar energy
3. Electricity from the oceans
4. Combined heat and power
5. Super-efficient homes
6. Electric cars
7. Motor fuels from cellulose
8. Capturing carbon
9. Biochar
10. Soil and forests

Each chapter stands on its own and if your only interested in some the others can be skipped, but they are all fascinating. The author is British and it is written for an English audience, usually using British pounds and examples, but the US is mentioned many times and it is easy to extrapolate (many US companies are mentioned). It is very well written and easy to read.

Some examples of things in the book: because water is 1000 times heavier than air, underwater turbines harnessing tidal energy in places like Scotland and Canada have extremely "dense" energy potentials. And the technology, which is very simple, is already in place coming online at commercial scales soon. As well, wave power is a mature technology with big potential. Fuel cells for cars will probably never take off for reasons explained, but as electric generators in homes, it has a lot of potential. Carbon capture and storage, which I thought was pie in the sky, is actually a very viable technology up and working today in places in Europe. The book explains exactly how its done, and how it is stored underground.

Books like this which are so specific about technologies, policies and companies will become out of date quickly. They burn bright but quickly. Indeed the book was written before the crash in oil prices in the second half of 2008, so it sometimes reads from another era. However, it is still valuable and energy prices will inevitably rise again. Indeed the book is a sort of testament to the need for government help in keeping new technologies afloat during the occasional oil crashes.

It does exactly what it says on the cover. If you are looking for an overview of the technologies which could be used to save us from ourselves this is it.

This isn't a one sided view from an environmentalist, this is an honest appraisal of the technologies with plenty of detail to satisfy the most enquiring reader.

A must read for anyone in a position to implement these technologies, policy makers or anyone with a interest in green issues.

As a bonus it's a really good read - I imagine that this could be quite a dry topic but the author does a great job of making all of the technologies sound interesting.

Well researched and written (and hence very readable)assessment of technologies available for development to reduce our dependence upon fossil and nuclear fuels. Also highlights that few if any will become commercial until too late without political will.