The Great Transition: Shifting from Fossil Fuels to Solar and Wind Energy

Author: Lester R. Brown
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393351149
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 247

Book Description
The great energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy is under way. As oil insecurity deepens, the extraction risks of fossil fuels rise, and concerns about climate instability cast a shadow over the future of coal, a new world energy economy is emerging. The old economy, fueled by oil, natural gas, and coal is being replaced with one powered by wind, solar, and geothermal energy. The Great Transition details the accelerating pace of this global energy revolution. As many countries become less enamored with coal and nuclear power, they are embracing an array of clean, renewable energies. Whereas solar energy projects were once small-scale, largely designed for residential use, energy investors are now building utility-scale solar projects. Strides are being made: some of the huge wind farm complexes under construction in China will each produce as much electricity as several nuclear power plants, and an electrified transport system supplemented by the use of bicycles could reshape the way we think about mobility.

The Great Transition

Author: B. M. S. Campbell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521195888
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 491

Book Description
Major account of the fourteenth-century crisis which saw a series of famines, revolts and epidemics transform the medieval world.

Great Transition

Author: Paul Raskin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780971241817
Category : Economic development
Languages : en
Pages : 99

Book Description

The Great Transition

Author: Raymond L. Garthoff
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 9780815730606
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 834

Book Description
Raymond L. Garthoff examines the fateful final decade of U.S.- Soviet relations, from the start of the Reagan administration in 1981 through the end of the Soviet era-- the collapse of the communist bloc, the end of Gorbachev's failed perestroika, and the demise of the Soviet Union itself at the end of 1991. While standing on its own, the book is a sequel to the author's earlier acclaimed, Détente and Confrontation: American-Soviet Relations from Nixon to Reagan, which covers the period 1969-1980. This volume features a detailed examination of the perspectives and actions of both the United States and the Soviet Union and their interaction, including the interrelationships of domestic factors with foreign and security policies in both countries and the involvement of both powers with other countries around the world, which infringed on their direct relationship. Besides analyzing the turn from confrontation to détente over the years of the Reagan and Bush administrations and Brezhnev through the Gorbachev administration, it reflects on the significance of the great transition from the cold war to a new era. It thus illuminates the very relevant recent history that underlines and informs American-Russian relations and the new situation of a post-Soviet, post-cold war world. Garthoff has obtained access to many formerly secret Soviet documents on this period in the Russian archives, as well as to a number of official American documents that have only recently been declassified. In addition, he has been able to interview and discuss the issues with many active or former Soviet and American officials. The author concludes that the key development was the advent of a Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, who recognized the need to cast off a failed world view and to end the cold war-- and who successfully moved with the United States, under the Reagan and Bush administrations, and others, to achieve that goal; notwithstanding his failure in the parallel attempt to revitalize and transform the Soviet Union. Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Book of 1994

Indonesia

Author: John Bresnan
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742540118
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 340

Book Description
Indonesia is in the midst of an epic transition as it moves from decades of authoritarian government to a new era of democratic opening, from years of secular government to a time of struggle over the role of Islam in public life, and from the breakdown of a 'miracle' economy to a search for resilience in the face of global forces. In this timely work, leading scholars analyze the causes of the social, political, and economic crises that erupted in Indonesia in the late 1990s, the responses of the elite and civil society, and the prospects for continuing reform. In the process, they explore such issues as the relevance of the nation-state in an age of globalization, the role of Islam in politics and violence, the strengths and weaknesses of a negotiated route to democratic governance, the relationship of corruption and structural reform to economic growth, and the prospects for stability in Southeast Asia. The first book to grapple with the scale and complexity of this historic transition, this work offers a clear and compelling introduction to the Indonesian experience for students with an interest in the problems of post-colonial states, to scholars in comparative Asian studies, and to anyone seeking a serious yet accessible introduction to the world's largest Islamic democracy. A Study of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University

PALE SKIN, GIANTS, AND THE GREAT TRANSITION

Author: MILTON E. BRENER
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
ISBN: 1466970316
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Book Description
This book, Milton Brener’s third on the subject of UFOs and extraterrestrials, is a giant leap. He delves into an analysis of much current scientific evidence that appears to add credence to claims of early hybridization of the human race. It is an entirely new and novel approach, but a very readable and one. It is a challenge to readers to think constructively of the new and novel. It revolves around the coalescence beginning about fifty thousand years ago of several significant and scientifically proven occurrences. One is the beginning of the pale skin tone of Europeans. Brener systematically dismantles the accepted scientific explanation for it and drives home the fact that the only other living creatures with similar skin tone are the extraterrestrials, often known to many witnesses of high credibility as Nordics. Unlike other ETs, these Nordics look like us, though some are said to be remarkably tall and, also unlike others, leave the contactees with very positive feelings. Another major occurrence, the great transition, was the relatively sudden appearance of modern behavior, including artistic genius, timekeeping, and creation of musical instruments. The book is truly a tour de force.

Grand Transitions

Author: Vaclav Smil
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190060689
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Book Description
From one of the world's leading experts on the history of energy, a rigorous examination of the transitions that structure our modern world--and the environmental reckoning that will mark its success or failure. What makes the modern world work? The answer to this deceptively simple question lies in four "grand transitions" of civilization--in populations, agriculture, energy, and economics--which have transformed the way we live. Societies that have undergone all four transitions emerge into an era of radically different population dynamics, food surpluses (and waste), abundant energy use, and expanding economic opportunities. Simultaneously, in other parts of the world, hundreds of millions remain largely untouched by these developments. Through erudite storytelling, Vaclav Smil investigates the fascinating and complex interactions of these transitions. He argues that the moral imperative to share modernity's benefits has become more acute with increasing economic inequality, but addressing this imbalance would make it exceedingly difficult to implement the changes necessary for the long-term preservation of the environment. Thus, managing the fifth transition--environmental changes from natural-resource depletion, biodiversity loss, and global warming--will determine the success or eventual failure of the grand transitions that have made the world we live in today.

The Meaning of the 20th Century

Author: Kenneth Ewart Boulding
Publisher: University Press of Amer
ISBN: 9780819171023
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Book Description
As relevant today as when it was first published in 1965 by Harper and Row, this book looks at the 20th century as a critical era in the great transition from a civilized to a post-civilized society. The 20th century itself is seen as an ongoing evolutionary process. The author focuses on three "traps" which would prevent this transition from taking place: the "war trap," the "population trap," and the "entropy trap." And he outlines strategies for the 21st century for overcoming these traps.

Empowering the Great Energy Transition

Author: Scott Valentine
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231546424
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Book Description
At a time when climate-change deniers hold the reins of power in the United States and international greenhouse gas negotiations continue at a slow crawl, what options are available to cities, companies, and consumers around the world who seek a cleaner future? Scott Victor Valentine, Marilyn A. Brown, and Benjamin K. Sovacool explore developments and strategies that will help fast-track the transition to renewable energy. They provide an expert analysis of the achievable steps that citizens, organizational leaders, and policy makers can take to put their commitments to sustainability into practice. Empowering the Great Energy Transition examines trends that suggest a transition away from carbon-intensive energy sources is inevitable—there are too many forces for change at work to stop a shift to clean energy. Yet under the status quo, change will be too slow to avert the worst consequences of climate change. Humanity is on a path to incur avoidable social, environmental, and economic costs. Valentine, Brown, and Sovacool argue that new policies and business models are needed to surmount the hurdles separating the current consumption model from a sustainable energy future. Empowering the Great Energy Transition shows that with well-placed efforts, we can set humanity on a course that supports entrepreneurs and communities in mitigating the environmental harm caused by technologies whose time has come and gone.

Journey to Earthland

Author: Paul Raskin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780997837605
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 138

Book Description
This inquiry builds a conceptual and strategic framework for understanding the contemporary global crisis and for shaping our world in transition. Its bedrock concern is the search for an organic planetary civilization, a vision that now opens before us as both possibility and exigency in an interdependent and dangerous century.