Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air (David MacKay) - 4*

Aug 09, 2009 21:23

Tasty crunchy numbers!  The Economist describes this book as "geek heaven"; the author says he's just trying to cut UK's emissions of twaddle.  David MacKay, a Cambridge physicist, wades into the data with a calculator and a touch of snark.

"Every big helps," he says, and he takes the reader on a fact-based hunt to find the places where "big" can ( Read more... )

nonfiction, future book club, books, green

Leave a comment

livingbyfiction August 9 2009, 18:43:30 UTC
P.S. The book is written for a UK audience, so take a few things with a grain of salt. For example, when MacKay finds that there's not enough wind/solar capacity to run the country, that's because Britain is freakishly temperate in every way. In the US, we've known for over a decade that the windy plains of the Texas/North Dakota corridor could power the entire country 5 times over. And we've got 250 sunny days per year in the Southwest. We're rich, baby ( ... )

Reply

texile August 10 2009, 00:54:32 UTC
That's a disturbingly sexy car. It's like the offspring of a Corvette and a Mercedes SL, but electric. [wolf whistle].

Reply

kevito666 August 10 2009, 12:13:12 UTC
It's a love child between Tesla motors and Lotus. Lotus makes some fantastic small cars that ultra-light and have smaller power-plants (usually Honda or Toyota 4-cylinder) are quite energy efficient for being powered by petrol.

The strange thing about it is that it has only one gear, so its neither automatic or manual. Flat torque across all rpm, tho. A very nice car to have.

Reply

livingbyfiction August 10 2009, 12:45:08 UTC
I don't even know how to drive, but I want a red one.

This one could kill the internal combustion engine.

Reply

tejanojim August 10 2009, 04:08:34 UTC
I'm surprised that the hydrogen car came out so badly... and you can have my jetski when you pry it out of my cold, wet hands.

Reply

livingbyfiction August 10 2009, 08:13:51 UTC
The hydrogen figure is for a BMW sedan, not even a Hummer.

The very worst in the line-up is an absurd biodiesel-fueled "ecoboat" that sucks away 800 kWh per 100 passenger kilometers.

Personally I am convinced that America's lack of numeracy will be the undoing of us all. On the mitigation end, MacKay has some interesting notes on using pulverized rocks to suck up CO2, although someone will have to volunteer their entire country to provide the necessary surface area. In which case, thank god for China. In 10 years, I can totally see China declaring: "Floods + famines => BAD GDP. All good citizens, paint roofs and roads white NOW. All provinces with badlands suitable for pulverized rock, raise your hands."

If you read about the crazy shit that happened during the Great Leap Forward, China's execution capacity + the Virgin Earth Prize => ~3 degrees.

Reply

livingbyfiction August 10 2009, 08:17:50 UTC
Unless you're traveling 100 kilometers in your jetski on a regular basis, go have fun.

Reply

tejanojim August 10 2009, 21:52:10 UTC
Without a jetski, how will I defend my clan from the fish-men who would steal our precious hydro and go-juice?

Reply

livingbyfiction August 11 2009, 07:29:03 UTC
If you carpool with a buddy, your jetski would be as efficient as the BMW Hydrogen 7 sedan. That'll make a splash at the office.

Reply

kevito666 August 10 2009, 12:15:38 UTC
Hydrogen fuel has always been a bad idea for terrestrial transport with our atmospheric composition and our available mineral resources. :(

Reply


Leave a comment

Up
[]