You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
This is the first book to comprehensibly describe how technology has shaped society and the environment over the last 200 years. It will be useful for researchers, as a textbook for graduate students, for people engaged in long-term policy planning in industry and government, for environmental activists, and for the wider public interested in history, technology, or environmental issues.
An edited volume on factors determining success or failure of energy technology innovation, for researchers and policy makers.
The 13 articles of this collection are the result of three workshops on induced technological change (ITC) held in 1997-1999 at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria (where two of the editors teach; the third teaches economics at Yale U.). The chapters consider topics that include the history of the ITC debate, international perspectives, various ITC modeling approaches, evolutionary interpretation of innovation in medical history, the relation of costs and performance of new technologies with carbon dioxide emission reduction, and the place of ITC in the context of global climate change policy. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
The twenty-first century will be increasingly urban.
The first systematic, quantitative appraisal of power density, offering detailed reviews of power densities of renewable energy flows, fossil fuels, and all common energy uses.“There's no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil.”—Bill GatesIn this book, Vaclav Smil argues that power density is a key determinant of the nature and dynamics of energy systems. Any understanding of complex energy systems must rely on quantitative measures of many fundamental variables. Power density—the rate of energy flux per unit of area—is an important but largely overlooked measure. Smil provides the first systematic, quantitative appraisal of power density, offering detailed revi...
Wee felt it before in sense; but now wee know it by science. Edward Misselden (1623) The collective effort reported in this volume is the outcome of the diffusion of the idea of diffusion as a fundamental process in society. The considerable number of disciplines represented here indicates the weight of the problem area. The editors are to be congratulated for their initiative in drawing together present thinking at a vivid meeting, now also in print. An old timer in the business has not much to add. But maybe some things, bearing in mind that a Preface is a celebration and not a review. As always with ideas it is hard to identify those who first gave shape to the idea of diffusion. In a general sense it is probably an observation as old as human self-reflection that groups of populations exchange ideas and copy habits and implements from each other. Sometimes it has even been recommended, as a Chinese proverb suggested millenia ago, "If you want to become a good farmer, look at your neighbor" .
This book offers a comprehensive assessment of the dynamics driving, and constraining, nuclear power development in Asia, Europe and North America, providing detailed comparative analysis. The book formulates a theory of nuclear socio-political economy which highlights six factors necessary for embarking on nuclear power programs: (1) national security and secrecy, (2) technocratic ideology, (3) economic interventionism, (4) a centrally coordinated energy stakeholder network, (5) subordination of opposition to political authority, and (6) social peripheralization. The book validates this theory by confirming the presence of these six drivers during the initial nuclear power developmental per...
Discusses a different approach to addressing environmental problems, aimed at a broad interdisciplinary audience.
This open access book discusses the eroding economics of nuclear power for electricity generation as well as technical, legal, and political acceptance issues. The use of nuclear power for electricity generation is still a heavily disputed issue. Aside from technical risks, safety issues, and the unsolved problem of nuclear waste disposal, the economic performance is currently a major barrier. In recent years, the costs have skyrocketed especially in the European countries and North America. At the same time, the costs of alternatives such as photovoltaics and wind power have significantly decreased.