The Carbon-Free Home

The Carbon-Free Home PDF Author: Stephen Hren
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1933392622
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 516

Book Description
Having weaned themselves completely from fossil fuels in their conventional 1930s urban house, Stephen and Rebekah Hren provide a map for others to do the same. Their book shows first how to reduce energy consumption, then to retrofit existing homes to obtain all heating, cooling, cooking, refrigeration, hot water, and electricity from renewable resources. The Hrens also provide advice on sustainable, low-impact methods of transportation and home gardening. These practical approaches, many of which are suitable for renters as well as owners, fit anyone's budget and can be implemented over time to progressively liberate a home from fossil-fuel dependency.--COVER.

The New Carbon Architecture

The New Carbon Architecture PDF Author: Bruce King
Publisher: New Society Publishers
ISBN: 1550926616
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 186

Book Description
Soak up carbon into beautiful, healthy buildings that heal the climate "Green buildings" that slash energy use and carbon emissions are all the rage, but they aren't enough. The hidden culprit is embodied carbon — the carbon emitted when materials are mined, manufactured, and transported — comprising some 10% of global emissions. With the built environment doubling by 2030, buildings are a carbon juggernaut threatening to overwhelm the climate. It doesn't have to be this way. Like never before in history, buildings can become part of the climate solution. With biomimicry and innovation, we can pull huge amounts of carbon out of the atmosphere and lock it up as walls, roofs, foundations, and insulation. We can literally make buildings out of the sky with a massive positive impact. The New Carbon Architecture is a paradigm-shifting tour of the innovations in architecture and construction that are making this happen. Office towers built from advanced wood products; affordable, low-carbon concrete alternatives; plastic cleaned from the oceans and turned into building blocks. We can even grow insulation from mycelium. A tour de force by the leaders in the field, The New Carbon Architecture will fire the imagination of architects, engineers, builders, policy makers, and everyone else captivated by the possibility of architecture to heal the climate and produce safer, healthier, and more beautiful buildings.

Power after Carbon

Power after Carbon PDF Author: Peter Fox-Penner
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674245628
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 457

Book Description
As the electric power industry faces the challenges of climate change, technological disruption, new market imperatives, and changing policies, a renowned energy expert offers a roadmap to the future of this essential sector. As the damaging and costly impacts of climate change increase, the rapid development of sustainable energy has taken on great urgency. The electricity industry has responded with necessary but wrenching shifts toward renewables, even as it faces unprecedented challenges and disruption brought on by new technologies, new competitors, and policy changes. The result is a collision course between a grid that must provide abundant, secure, flexible, and affordable power, and an industry facing enormous demands for power and rapid, systemic change. The fashionable solution is to think small: smart buildings, small-scale renewables, and locally distributed green energy. But Peter Fox-Penner makes clear that these will not be enough to meet our increasing needs for electricity. He points instead to the indispensability of large power systems, battery storage, and scalable carbon-free power technologies, along with the grids and markets that will integrate them. The electric power industry and its regulators will have to provide all of these, even as they grapple with changing business models for local electric utilities, political instability, and technological change. Power after Carbon makes sense of all the moving parts, providing actionable recommendations for anyone involved with or relying on the electric power system.

Reinventing Fire

Reinventing Fire PDF Author: Amory Lovins
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603583726
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 4

Book Description
Imagine fuel without fear. No climate change. No oil spills, no dead coalminers, no dirty air, no devastated lands, no lost wildlife. No energy poverty. No oil-fed wars, tyrannies, or terrorists. No leaking nuclear wastes or spreading nuclear weapons. Nothing to run out. Nothing to cut off. Nothing to worry about. Just energy abundance, benign and affordable, for all, forever. That richer, fairer, cooler, safer world is possible, practical, even profitable-because saving and replacing fossil fuels now works better and costs no more than buying and burning them. Reinventing Fire shows how business-motivated by profit, supported by civil society, sped by smart policy-can get the US completely off oil and coal by 2050, and later beyond natural gas as well. Authored by a world leader on energy and innovation, the book maps a robust path for integrating real, here-and-now, comprehensive energy solutions in four industries-transportation, buildings, electricity, and manufacturing-melding radically efficient energy use with reliable, secure, renewable energy supplies.Popular in tone and rooted in applied hope, Reinventing Fire shows how smart businesses are creating a potent, global, market-driven, and explosively growing movement to defossilize fuels. It points readers to trillions in savings over the next 40 years, and trillions more in new business opportunities.Whether you care most about national security, or jobs and competitive advantage, or climate and environment, this major contribution by world leaders in energy innovation offers startling innovations will support your values, inspire your support, and transform your sense of possibility.Pragmatic citizens today are more interested in outcomes than motives. Reinventing Fire answers this trans-ideological call. Whether you care most about national security, or jobs and competitive advantage, or climate and environment, its startling innovations will support your values, inspire your support, and transform your sense of possibility.

Carbon

Carbon PDF Author: Matti Kuittinen
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119720761
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Book Description
A comprehensive approach to design that integrates sustainable principles and design strategies for decarbonized construction Representing an international collaboration between academics and architects in the United States and Europe, Carbon: A Field Manual for Designers and Builders offers professionals in the field an approach to sustainable design that embraces building science principles, life-cycle analysis, and design strategies in carbon neutral construction. The book also contains background information on carbon in construction materials and in the building design process. This book is filled with illustrative diagrams and drawings that help evaluate the potential impact of design decisions for creating carbon emissions. Written by and for designers and builders, the book includes a compelling pair of case studies that explore carbon-reducing strategies, suggests steps for assessing a building's carbon footprint, and reviews carbon storages and circulation of materials. The guidelines detailed in the book can be adopted, replicated, and deployed to reduce carbon emissions and create more sustainable buildings. This important book: Offers an effective approach to sustainable design in construction Integrates building science principles, life-cycle analysis, and design strategies in carbon neutral construction Describes a methodology for quantifying the flow of carbon in the built environment Provides an analysis of carbon-reducing strategies based on a case study of a building designed by the authors Written for practicing professionals in architecture and construction, Carbon: A Field Guide for Designers and Builders is a must-have resource for professionals who are dedicated to creating sustainable projects.

Carbon-free and Nuclear-free

Carbon-free and Nuclear-free PDF Author: Arjun Makhijani
Publisher: RDR Books
ISBN: 9781571431738
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 300

Book Description
In a world confronting global climate change, political turmoil among oil exporting nations, nuclear weapons proliferation, nuclear plant safety and waste disposal issues, the United States must assume a leadership role in moving to a zero-CO2-emissions energy economy. At the same time America needs to take the lead in reducing the world's reliance on nuclear power. This breakthrough joint study by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research and the Nuclear Policy Research Institute shows how our energy needs can be met by alternative sources, as wind, solar, hydrogen, biomass, microalgae, geothermal and wave power are all part of the solution. Must reading for everyone concerned with energy politics and the planet's future, Carbon-Free is already making headlines.

Drawdown

Drawdown PDF Author: Paul Hawken
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1524704652
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Book Description
• New York Times bestseller • The 100 most substantive solutions to reverse global warming, based on meticulous research by leading scientists and policymakers around the world “At this point in time, the Drawdown book is exactly what is needed; a credible, conservative solution-by-solution narrative that we can do it. Reading it is an effective inoculation against the widespread perception of doom that humanity cannot and will not solve the climate crisis. Reported by-effects include increased determination and a sense of grounded hope.” —Per Espen Stoknes, Author, What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming “There’s been no real way for ordinary people to get an understanding of what they can do and what impact it can have. There remains no single, comprehensive, reliable compendium of carbon-reduction solutions across sectors. At least until now. . . . The public is hungry for this kind of practical wisdom.” —David Roberts, Vox “This is the ideal environmental sciences textbook—only it is too interesting and inspiring to be called a textbook.” —Peter Kareiva, Director of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, UCLA In the face of widespread fear and apathy, an international coalition of researchers, professionals, and scientists have come together to offer a set of realistic and bold solutions to climate change. One hundred techniques and practices are described here—some are well known; some you may have never heard of. They range from clean energy to educating girls in lower-income countries to land use practices that pull carbon out of the air. The solutions exist, are economically viable, and communities throughout the world are currently enacting them with skill and determination. If deployed collectively on a global scale over the next thirty years, they represent a credible path forward, not just to slow the earth’s warming but to reach drawdown, that point in time when greenhouse gases in the atmosphere peak and begin to decline. These measures promise cascading benefits to human health, security, prosperity, and well-being—giving us every reason to see this planetary crisis as an opportunity to create a just and livable world.

Cooler Smarter

Cooler Smarter PDF Author: The Union of Concerned Scientists
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1610912349
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
How can each of us live Cooler Smarter? While the routine decisions that shape our days—what to have for dinner, where to shop, how to get to work—may seem small, collectively they have a big effect on global warming. But which changes in our lifestyles might make the biggest difference to the climate? This science-based guide shows you the most effective ways to cut your own global warming emissions by twenty percent or more, and explains why your individual contribution is so vital to addressing this global problem. Cooler Smarter is based on an in-depth, two-year study by the experts at The Union of Concerned Scientists. While other green guides suggest an array of tips, Cooler Smarter offers proven strategies to cut carbon, with chapters on transportation, home energy use, diet, personal consumption, as well as how best to influence your workplace, your community, and elected officials. The book explains how to make the biggest impact and when not to sweat the small stuff. It also turns many eco-myths on their head, like the importance of locally produced food or the superiority of all hybrid cars. The advice in Cooler Smarter can help save you money and live healthier. But its central purpose is to empower you, through low carbon-living, to confront one of society’s greatest threats.

The Carbon Buster's Home Energy Handbook

The Carbon Buster's Home Energy Handbook PDF Author: Godo Stoyke
Publisher: New Society Publishers
ISBN: 1550923692
Category : House & Home
Languages : en
Pages : 184

Book Description
Most people are unaware that environmental problems such as climate change can be easily avoided, at a profit, through the intelligent application of appropriate technology. The Carbon Buster's Handbook describes how to achieve this goal in the residential field. The first book in North America to provide a detailed carbon accounting of a family's carbon emissions and how to reduce them, it systematically analyzes energy costs and evaluates which measures yield the highest returns for the environment and the pocketbook. It provides answers to questions such as: Which measure is more effective: putting solar panels on your roof, or buying a hybrid car? Where do I need to invest first: in high-efficiency shower-heads, or solar tubes? Is a $500 fridge that uses 800 kWh of power per year a good buy? The book allows individuals to quickly and accurately assess which products are a good deal and which aren't. It systematically analyzes residential carbon emissions and energy costs and prioritizes solutions based on highest carbon reductions and monetary returns, yielding results that are often surprising. The book enables readers to dramatically reduce their carbon emissions - far below the levels targeted under the Kyoto Protocol. At the same time, readers implementing the recommendations will save an average of US$15,000 in energy costs over the next five years.

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster PDF Author: Bill Gates
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0385546149
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 201

Book Description
#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.
Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Rits Blog by Crimson Themes.