The Economy of Human Energy
Author : Thomas Nixon Carver
Publisher :
Page : 314 pages
File Size : 27,13 MB
Release : 1924
Category : Economics
ISBN :
Energy and the Wealth of Nations
Author : Charles A.S. Hall
Publisher : Springer
Page : 507 pages
File Size : 17,77 MB
Release : 2018-03-05
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 3319662198
Book Description
In this updated edition of a groundbreaking text, concepts such as energy return on investment (EROI) provide powerful insights into the real balance sheets that drive our “petroleum economy.” Hall and Klitgaard explore the relation between energy and the wealth explosion of the 20th century, and the interaction of internal limits to growth found in the investment process and rising inequality with the biophysical limits posed by finite energy resources. The authors focus attention on the failure of markets to recognize or efficiently allocate diminishing resources, the economic consequences of peak oil, the high cost and relatively low EROI of finding and exploiting new oil fields, including the much ballyhooed shale plays and oil sands, and whether alternative energy technologies such as wind and solar power can meet the minimum EROI requirements needed to run society as we know it. For the past 150 years, economics has been treated as a social science in which economies are modeled as a circular flow of income between producers and consumers. In this “perpetual motion” of interactions between firms that produce and households that consume, little or no accounting is given of the flow of energy and materials from the environment and back again. In the standard economic model, energy and matter are completely recycled in these transactions, and economic activity is seemingly exempt from the Second Law of Thermodynamics. As we enter the second half of the age of oil, when energy supplies and the environmental impacts of energy production and consumption are likely to constrain economic growth, this exemption should be considered illusory at best. This book is an essential read for all scientists and economists who have recognized the urgent need for a more scientific, empirical, and unified approach to economics in an energy-constrained world, and serves as an ideal teaching text for the growing number of courses, such as the authors’ own, on the role of energy in society.
The Superorganism
Author : Bert Holldobler
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 556 pages
File Size : 11,7 MB
Release : 2009
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9780393067040
Book Description
The Pulitzer Prize-winning authors of "The Ants" render the extraordinary lives of the social insects--ants, bees, wasps, and termites--in this visually spectacular volume. 110 color and 100 black-and-white illustrations.
The Economy of Human Energy
Author : Thomas Nixon Carver
Publisher :
Page : 310 pages
File Size : 27,91 MB
Release : 1924
Category : Economics
ISBN :
Book Description
Energy and Civilization
Author : Vaclav Smil
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 564 pages
File Size : 44,51 MB
Release : 2018-11-13
Category : Science
ISBN : 0262536161
Book Description
A comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society throughout history, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel–driven civilization. "I wait for new Smil books the way some people wait for the next 'Star Wars' movie. In his latest book, Energy and Civilization: A History, he goes deep and broad to explain how innovations in humans' ability to turn energy into heat, light, and motion have been a driving force behind our cultural and economic progress over the past 10,000 years. —Bill Gates, Gates Notes, Best Books of the Year Energy is the only universal currency; it is necessary for getting anything done. The conversion of energy on Earth ranges from terra-forming forces of plate tectonics to cumulative erosive effects of raindrops. Life on Earth depends on the photosynthetic conversion of solar energy into plant biomass. Humans have come to rely on many more energy flows—ranging from fossil fuels to photovoltaic generation of electricity—for their civilized existence. In this monumental history, Vaclav Smil provides a comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel–driven civilization. Humans are the only species that can systematically harness energies outside their bodies, using the power of their intellect and an enormous variety of artifacts—from the simplest tools to internal combustion engines and nuclear reactors. The epochal transition to fossil fuels affected everything: agriculture, industry, transportation, weapons, communication, economics, urbanization, quality of life, politics, and the environment. Smil describes humanity's energy eras in panoramic and interdisciplinary fashion, offering readers a magisterial overview. This book is an extensively updated and expanded version of Smil's Energy in World History (1994). Smil has incorporated an enormous amount of new material, reflecting the dramatic developments in energy studies over the last two decades and his own research over that time.
The Political Economy of Clean Energy Transitions
Author : Douglas Arent
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 631 pages
File Size : 18,75 MB
Release : 2017
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0198802242
Book Description
A volume on the political economy of clean energy transition in developed and developing regions, with a focus on the issues that different countries face as they transition from fossil fuels to lower carbon technologies.
Political Economy, Power and the Body
Author : G. Youngs
Publisher : Springer
Page : 213 pages
File Size : 38,64 MB
Release : 1999-10-28
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0333983904
Book Description
Political Economy, Power and the Body is carefully organized to provide an introductory section of three chapters which set out a number of detailed theoretical arguments relevant to the work developed in the next two sections. In this sense the collection should be a major contribution in laying the groundwork in the new area. The strength of the volume lies in the way the individual chapters bring theory and practice together. It could be argued that it represents the maturity of feminist work in international political economy now. The book will be a vital teaching as well as research text, especially in international relations/international political economy/women's studies generally.
The Hydrogen Economy
Author : National Academy of Engineering
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 257 pages
File Size : 50,58 MB
Release : 2004-09-05
Category : Science
ISBN : 0309091632
Book Description
The announcement of a hydrogen fuel initiative in the President's 2003 State of the Union speech substantially increased interest in the potential for hydrogen to play a major role in the nation's long-term energy future. Prior to that event, DOE asked the National Research Council to examine key technical issues about the hydrogen economy to assist in the development of its hydrogen R&D program. Included in the assessment were the current state of technology; future cost estimates; CO2 emissions; distribution, storage, and end use considerations; and the DOE RD&D program. The report provides an assessment of hydrogen as a fuel in the nation's future energy economy and describes a number of important challenges that must be overcome if it is to make a major energy contribution. Topics covered include the hydrogen end-use technologies, transportation, hydrogen production technologies, and transition issues for hydrogen in vehicles.
Energy and the English Industrial Revolution
Author : E. A. Wrigley
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 287 pages
File Size : 43,60 MB
Release : 2010-08-19
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0521766931
Book Description
Retrospective: 9.
Global Energy Perspectives
Author : Nebojsa Nakicenovic
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 322 pages
File Size : 24,83 MB
Release : 1998-10-15
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780521645690
Book Description
Global energy needs are expanding substantially as populations grow and economies develop around the world. There is clear evidence that continued use of fossil fuels as the world's dominant energy supply is damaging the environment and causing changes in global climate patterns. People want higher levels of more efficient, cleaner, and less obtrusive energy services. How much of those needs will be met by fossil fuels, how much by alternative fuels, and how much by efficiency increases and expanded energy conservation is a wide open question. Global Energy Perspectives describes the results of a five-year joint study by the International Institute for Applied systems Analysis and the World Energy Council. It presents six long-term energy futures which lay out the alternatives among future fuels, technologies, efficiency gains, conservation patterns, and pollution levels, and pinpoints the key choices that are most likely to characterize the twenty-first century. The primary audience will include researchers, educators, policy makers in private and public sectors and other workers in the energy, technology, economics and environmental areas, but the book will appeal to anyone interested in the future of energy production as a prerequisite for human development.
