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Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air (Paperback)

by David J.C. MacKay (Author)
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
RRP: £19.95
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Product Description

Review

"This book is a tour de force...as a work of popular science it is exemplary." --The Economist

"This is to energy and climate what Freakonomics is to economics." --Cory Doctorow, boingboing.net

"This year's must-read book about tackling our future energy needs." --The Guardian

"...A high priority book on a high priority problem." --William W Hogan, Harvard University

"For anyone with influence on energy policy, whether in government, business or a campaign group, this book should be compulsory reading."
--Tony Juniper-Former Executive Director, Friends of the Earth


Product Description

Addressing the sustainable energy crisis in an objective manner, this enlightening book analyzes the relevant numbers and organizes a plan for change on both a personal level and an international scale--for Europe, the Untied States, and the world. In case study format, this informative reference answers questions surrounding nuclear energy, the potential of sustainable fossil fuels, and the possibilities of sharing renewable power with foreign countries. While underlining the difficulty of minimizing consumption, the tone remains positive as it debunks misinformation and clearly explains the calculations of expenditure per person to encourage people to make individual changes that will benefit the world at large.
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Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Customer Reviews

43 Reviews
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4.9 out of 5 stars (43 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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51 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding. Most important book on this topic for the next 20 years., 11 Feb 2009
By Dr. F. Stajano "filologo disneyano" (Cambridge, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Where will our energy come from? Oil and coal are running out and cause global warming, nuclear plants are potential Chernobyls that nobody wants in their back yard, wind turbines kill birds and spoil the landscape... We've got a serious problem, right? Right. But it's not "Which technology should we shift to?", it's rather "Why can't people add up?".

In a nutshell, David MacKay's brilliant book is about working out a budget, as if on the back of an envelope, with the red column listing how much energy we consume and the green column listing how much we produce (or could produce using various technologies). Can this budget be balanced? And how? In one brief but insightful chapter after another, the author gives us a few simple intellectual tools to figure out the answer for ourselves: not much more than the four operations and a bit of common sense, plus a useful human-scale framework for thinking sensibly about energy. With the sharp mind of the scientist, to the tune of "numbers, not adjectives", he mercilessly cuts through the fog of empty propaganda words that has surrounded the energy debate to date.

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish and you feed him for life", says the Chinese proverb. MacKay gives no answers; instead, he gently and entertainingly teaches readers how to fish them out for themselves. The author, who is a professor in the Physics department at Cambridge, couples open-mindedness and intellectual rigour with an admirable talent for making quantitative ideas easy to understand and even satisfyingly fun to work out. After responding with a simple calculation to the objection that building a nuclear power plant would consume "huge" amounts of concrete and steel and therefore cause "huge" pollution, for example, he notes with characteristic wit: "Please don't get me wrong: I'm not trying to be pro-nuclear. I'm just pro-arithmetic."

This book is an amazing performance: sharp, accurate, quantitative and at the same time clear, entertaining and compelling, not to mention beautifully illustrated with great photographs and informative diagrams and maps. A scientific book as hard to put down as a good novel. It's a labour of love (three years in the making) and it shows. It's even available at no charge as a full-quality pdf download from the author's own web site. Despite that, I've bought five extra paper copies, besides my own, as presents for friends with whom I wanted to share this all-important message about our future. I have never done this before with any other book. If there were a way to give this book more than five stars, I definitely would.
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29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Read, re-read, then buy it for everyone you know, 10 Feb 2009
Quite staggeringly brilliant. Real science, real numbers, and real, strong conclusions, but with such a light, accessible approach that the reader doesn't even notice how difficult the concepts are that they have just understood. This book explains exactly why we need to urgently find sources of sustainable energy, painting a complete picture of where all the energy goes, and the pros and cons of every potentially sustainable option: changes to fossil fuel use, improvements in energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, nuclear, everything.

What makes it particularly good is that the book's stated goal is primarily to work out how, for the foreseeable future, we could possibly keep on using the same amount of energy we use today. If nothing else, this book shows beautifully that questions of energy and questions of environmental catastrophe can be de-coupled. Whether people believe that the Earth is warming up or not is irrelevant: we need sustainable energy sources either way! So buy it for the eco-sceptic in your life, and then they may just stop whinging about low-energy light bulbs...
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the best book I have ever read, 24 Feb 2009
By J. Callan (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air (Hardcover)
This is the book I was waiting for: someone has done the research and put credible broad-brush energy numbers down on paper, and it's surprisingly entertaining as a bonus.

If you want to know the scale of the sustainable energy/climate change problems we face, and what scale the possible solutions need to be, get this book. If you'd prefer to believe that buying a Prius will save the world, don't get this book.

It's a stunning achievement and it should be made compulsory reading for anyone involved in government.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A balanced view
This book explains in simple terms how much energy we need and how much we can generate. You don't have to agree with the authors conclusions but it does take you into the debate... Read more
Published 4 days ago by M. Baker

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading
This is by far the best book I have read on these crucially important topics of Sustainability and Climate Change. It's absolutely comprehensive. Read more
Published 5 days ago by D. Dearden

4.0 out of 5 stars A model thesis
The author has considered every source of energy and all modes of its creation, use and the future. Read more
Published 10 days ago by Anukul Chandra

5.0 out of 5 stars Anyone with a real interest in the future of energy NEEDS to read this
We've all been alarmed by the news about global warning and the impact of burning fossil fuels; and we've all listened to the impassioned claims of the devotees of various types... Read more
Published 22 days ago by Peter Johnson

5.0 out of 5 stars Breath of fresh air
Nothing to add to the previous reviews other than a positive vote for this excellent book.

The most important message is that we must do the numbers and it is not... Read more
Published 23 days ago by Nick Grant

5.0 out of 5 stars an exemplar
Without wasting words this is an essential book for anybody trying to understand the consequences of our energy use and the possible sustainable remedies. Read more
Published 25 days ago by M. V. Tas

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally a well conceived book on the topic of sustainable energy
The author employs the scientific method to address the issue of sustainable energy (electric and otherwise) instead of falling into the usual emotional rhetoric associated with... Read more
Published 26 days ago by M. Louro

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading
Everything a citizen needs to know about the energy options facing individuals, nations and the world in an easily understandable format. Read more
Published 28 days ago by John A. Worley

4.0 out of 5 stars It does exactly what it says - it makes it all understandable
This book is written in such a way that it appeals to the expert or the novice wanting to get to the bottom of all the various claims about carbon footprints and the renewable... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Peter H

5.0 out of 5 stars Plain Speaking
The physics fudndamental to understanding energy are made eady to understand, the humour helps make it an easy to read text book.
Published 1 month ago by B. F. Wallis

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