Our renewable future : laying the path for 100% clean energy

9781610917797

xv, 226 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Laying the path for 100% clean energy
Laying the path for hundred percent clean energy
Laying the path for one hundred percent clean energy

Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-223)

Introduction
How "normal" came to be
Why a renewable world will be different
part I. The context : it's all about energy
1. Energy 101
What is energy?
Laws of thermodynamics
Net energy
Life cycle impacts
Operational versus embodied energy
Energy resource criteria
2. A quick look at our current energy system
Growth
Energy rich, energy poor
Energy resources
End use
part II. Energy supply in a renewable world : opportunities and challenges
3. Renewable electricity: falling costs, variability, and scaling challenges
Price is less of a barrier
Intermittency
Storage
Grid redesign
Demand management
Capacity redundancy
Scaling challenges
Lessons from Spain and Germany --- Pushback against wind and solar
4. Transportation : the substitution challenge
Electrification
Biofuels
Hydrogen
Natural gas
Sails and kites
A less mobile all-renewable future
5. Other uses of fossil fuels : the substitution challenge continues
High-temperature heat for industrial processes
Low-temperature heat
Fossil fuels for plastics, chemicals, and other materials
Where's our stuff?
6. Energy supply : how much will we have? how much will we need?
Energy returned on energy invested of renewables
Building solar and wind with solar and wind
Investment requirements
The efficiency opportunity : we may not need as much energy
Energy intensity
The role of curtailment and the problem of economic growth
7. What about ...?
Nuclear power
Carbon capture and storage
Massive technology improvements
part III. Preparing for our renewable future
8. Energy and justice
Energy and equity in the least industrialized countries
Energy and equity in rapidly industrializing nations
Energy and equity in highly industrialized countries
Policy frameworks for enhancing justice while cutting carbon
9. What government can do
Support for an overall switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy
Support for research and development of ways to use renewables to power more industrial processes and transport
Conservation of fossil fuels for essential purposes
Support for energy conservation in general : efficiency and curtailment
Better greenhouse gas accounting
10. What we the people can do
Individuals and households
Communities
Climate and environmental groups, and their funders
11. What we learned
We really need a plan : no, lots of them
Scale is the biggest challenge
It's not all about solar and wind
We must begin preadapting to having less energy
Consumerism is a problem, not a solution
Population growth makes everything harder
Fossil fuels are too valuable to allocate solely by the market
Everything is connected
This really does change everything

2016931452

2437263

Fridley, David, 1956- author
Post Carbon Institute, issuing body