The Energy Switch

The Energy Switch
Author: Peter Kelly-Detwiler
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2021-06-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1633886670

The energy industry is changing, and it’s far more than just solar panels. Electric vehicles look to overtake gasoline-powered cars within our lifetimes, wind farms are popping up in unlikely places, traders are transforming energy into a commodity, and supercomputers are crunching vast amounts of data in nanoseconds while helping to keep our energy grids secure from hackers. The way humans produce, distribute and consume power will be cleaner, cheaper, and infinitely more complex within the next decade. In The Energy Switch, leading energy industry expert Peter Kelly-Detwilerlooks at all aspects of the transformation: how we got here, where we are going, and the implications for all of us in our daily lives. Kelly-Detwiler takes readers to the frontlines of the energy revolution. Meet Steve Collins, an executive from Commercial Development Corporation, the company that blew up two $570-million-dollar concrete cooling towers to create a staging ground for the new $70 billion U.S. offshore wind industry; Rob Threlkeld, a General Motors executive who convinced the auto giant to sign multiple 20-year renewable energy contracts worth hundreds of millions; Kevin McAlpin, a Texas homeowner who buys the power for his home on the electricity spot market – where prices can soar from less than one cent a kilowatthour to $9.00 over the course of a single day; Dr. Kristin Persson, who oversees a supercomputer that can process data at 30 quadrillion calculations per second, in the quest for better renewable energy and battery technologies; and John Davis, a Texas rancher who can keep his land intact, with help from the royalty payments from seven turbines spinning on his range. Energy creation and distribution has driven society’s progress for centuries. Today, people are increasingly aware that it is imperative that humans move towards a cleaner, digitized, and democratized energy economy. The Energy Switch is about that multi-trillion dollar transformation, told from the perspective of those leading us to that bright future.

The Big Switch

The Big Switch
Author: Saul Griffith
Publisher: Black Inc.
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2022-02-14
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1743822375

An inspiring, practical plan to transform Australia’s energy system and supercharge our response to the climate crisis Climate change is a planetary emergency. We have to do something now – but what? Australian visionary Saul Griffith has a plan. In The Big Switch, Griffith lays out a detailed blueprint – optimistic but feasible – for fighting climate change while creating millions of new jobs and a healthier environment. Griffith explains exactly what it would take to transform our infrastructure, update our grid, and adapt our households. Billionaires may contemplate escaping our worn-out planet on a private rocket ship to Mars, but the rest of us, Griffith says, will stay and fight for the future. ‘I’m a scientist, inventor and father who wants to leave my kids a better world. The data convinces me that it is still rational to have hope.’ —Saul Griffith 'About f*cking time we have an actual plan written down that can be executed and financed. In a decarbonised world, Australia is a winner. The opportunity now is ours for the taking.' -Mike Cannon-Brookes 'Griffth argues that electrification is the path forward to mitigate climate change while creating jobs.' -Rose Mary Petrass, The Fifth Estate '...an engaging, optimistic, and persuasive perspective on the huge opportunities in front of us.' -Benjamin Powell, Westender Community News

Switch

Switch
Author: Chip Heath
Publisher: Crown Currency
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2010-02-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 030759016X

Why is it so hard to make lasting changes in our companies, in our communities, and in our own lives? The primary obstacle is a conflict that's built into our brains, say Chip and Dan Heath, authors of the critically acclaimed bestseller Made to Stick. Psychologists have discovered that our minds are ruled by two different systems - the rational mind and the emotional mind—that compete for control. The rational mind wants a great beach body; the emotional mind wants that Oreo cookie. The rational mind wants to change something at work; the emotional mind loves the comfort of the existing routine. This tension can doom a change effort - but if it is overcome, change can come quickly. In Switch, the Heaths show how everyday people - employees and managers, parents and nurses - have united both minds and, as a result, achieved dramatic results: • The lowly medical interns who managed to defeat an entrenched, decades-old medical practice that was endangering patients • The home-organizing guru who developed a simple technique for overcoming the dread of housekeeping • The manager who transformed a lackadaisical customer-support team into service zealots by removing a standard tool of customer service In a compelling, story-driven narrative, the Heaths bring together decades of counterintuitive research in psychology, sociology, and other fields to shed new light on how we can effect transformative change. Switch shows that successful changes follow a pattern, a pattern you can use to make the changes that matter to you, whether your interest is in changing the world or changing your waistline.

Revolutionary Power

Revolutionary Power
Author: Shalanda Baker
Publisher: Island Press
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2021-01-14
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1642830674

In September 2017, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, completely upending the energy grid of the small island. The nearly year-long power outage that followed vividly shows how the new climate reality intersects with race and access to energy. The island is home to brown and black US citizens who lack the political power of those living in the continental US. As the world continues to warm and storms like Maria become more commonplace, it is critical that we rethink our current energy system to enable reliable, locally produced, and locally controlled energy without replicating the current structures of power and control. In Revolutionary Power, Shalanda Baker arms those made most vulnerable by our current energy system with the tools they need to remake the system in the service of their humanity. She argues that people of color, poor people, and indigenous people must engage in the creation of the new energy system in order to upend the unequal power dynamics of the current system. Revolutionary Power is a playbook for the energy transformation complete with a step-by-step analysis of the key energy policy areas that are ripe for intervention. Baker tells the stories of those who have been left behind in our current system and those who are working to be architects of a more just system. She draws from her experience as an energy-justice advocate, a lawyer, and a queer woman of color to inspire activists working to build our new energy system. Climate change will force us to rethink the way we generate and distribute energy and regulate the system. But how much are we willing to change the system? This unique moment in history provides an unprecedented opening for a deeper transformation of the energy system, and thus, an opportunity to transform society. Revolutionary Power shows us how.

Summary of Peter Kelly-Detwiler's The Energy Switch

Summary of Peter Kelly-Detwiler's The Energy Switch
Author: Everest Media,
Publisher: Everest Media LLC
Total Pages: 54
Release: 2022-05-16T22:59:00Z
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 In 2019, I visited the Brayton Point coal-fired power plant in Fall River, Massachusetts. The plant had generated 20 percent of Massachusetts’ electricity supply, supported hundreds of well-paying jobs, and provided $4 million in annual tax revenues to the town of Somerset. #2 The collapse of the towers was extremely dramatic. It took only five seconds for both towers to collapse, and a huge dust plume blew across the bay. #3 The death of Brayton Point coal power plant illustrates the changing nature of the energy industry. While gas plants are not carbon-free, they do help push coal plants out of the market. #4 The biggest global challenge of our day is to slow down and limit the change in the climate so we can live within a habitable climate. As a significant contributor of carbon emissions, our energy systems will have to rapidly evolve to meet this challenge.

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster
Author: Bill Gates
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2021-02-16
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0385546149

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

Energy and Civilization

Energy and Civilization
Author: Vaclav Smil
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 564
Release: 2018-11-13
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0262536161

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.

Power Switching Components

Power Switching Components
Author: Kaveh Niayesh
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2017-03-15
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3319514601

This book focuses on the theory and application of power switching components in power networks. More specifically, it discusses current interruption theory, applied stresses to switching components in power networks and appropriate methods to test their different functionalities. It reviews the basic working principles of current technologies and summarizes the upcoming technological advances within the field of power switching devices. Taking an educational approach to the subject, this book is useful for graduate courses on high voltage equipment and power device technology within the electric power engineering discipline. Furthermore, inclusion of numerous worked examples, exercises and easily digestible descriptions of complex physical phenomena in switching devices make this an invaluable self-learning resource for engineers.

The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google

The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google
Author: Nicholas Carr
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2009-01-19
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0393333949

"Future Shock for the Web-apps era.... Compulsively readable—for nontechies, too."—Fast Company Building on the success of his industry-shaking Does IT Matter? Nicholas Carr returns with The Big Switch, a sweeping look at how a new computer revolution is reshaping business, society, and culture. Just as companies stopped generating their own power and plugged into the newly built electric grid some hundred years ago, today it's computing that's turning into a utility. The effects of this transition will ultimately change society as profoundly as cheap electricity did. The Big Switch provides a panoramic view of the new world being conjured from the circuits of the "World Wide Computer." New for the paperback edition, the book now includes an A–Z guide to the companies leading this transformation.