MetaEfficient Reviews » Book Reviews

Free Book: Sustainable Energy — Without The Hot Air

Justin — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:42:31 +0000

I’m very glad to see the publication of a book called Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air. Don’t be fooled by the cover — this is book is a lively look at sustainable energy.

I liked the way reviewer Cory Doctorow describes the book on Boing Boing: “This is to energy and climate what Freakonomics is to economics: an accessible, meaty, by-the-numbers look at the physics and practicalities of energy. MacKay, a Cambridge Physics prof, approaches the subject of carbon and sustainability with a scientific, numeric eye.”

This book is full of information — lots of numbers to digest and many colorful graphs. Best of all, the entire book is available as a free 10MB PDF download so you can start reading immediately.

I liked the MacKay’s summary of the second part of the book “Making A Difference”:

First, we electrify transport. Electriﬁcation both gets transport off fossil fuels, and makes transport more energy-efﬁcient. (Of course, electriﬁcation increases our demand for green electricity.) Second, to supplement solar-thermal heating, we electrify most heating of air and water in buildings using heat pumps, which are four times more efﬁcient than ordinary electrical heaters. This electriﬁcation of heating further increases the amount of green electricity required. Third, we get all the green electricity from a mix of four sources: from our own renewables; perhaps from “clean coal;” perhaps from nuclear; and ﬁnally, and with great politeness, from other countries’ renewables. Among other countries’ renewables, solar power in deserts is the most plentiful option. As long as we can build peaceful international collaborations, solar power in other people’s deserts certainly has the technical potential to provide us, them, and everyone with 125 kWh per day per person.
Questions? Read on.

Home page for the book: WithoutHotAir.Com

Amazon link: Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air

Via: Boing Boing

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Notes From The MetaEfficient Labs

Justin — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:00:18 +0000

I’ve been doing a lot of work in the MetaEfficient lab. I thought I would post an update on my experiments and research:

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How to Live Well Without Owning A Car

Justin — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:12:11 +0000

In his book, How To Live Well Without Owning A Car author Chris Balish exposes the true costs of car ownership, and shows how car-free living can put anyone on the path to financial freedom. Take a look at the book’s car cost worksheet, and see how much owning a car really costs — you’ll be surprised. Then, see how easy it is to transition to a car-free or car-lite lifestyle using Chris’s strategies for commuting, running errands, taking trips, dating, socializing, and more. Without car payments, rising gas prices, and traffic jams to worry about, you’ll have more money and leisure time to spend as you choose.

See also our review of the Carfree Cities book.

Available from Amazon.

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Human Wildlife

Justin — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 01:02:55 +0000

This book, Human Wildlife, is an interesting survey of the fungi, yeasts, bacteria, worms and other creatures that inhabit the human body. Though sometimes hard to read, it’s certainly illuminating to know about the symbiotic relationships that the human body entertains, and well as the more parasitic ones.

The book features many color photos of the denizens themselves (some of the photos are not for the faint-of-heart). The author, Robert Buckman, approaches his enthusiastically and humorously. I like this review by Effi Ofer:

The human body contains about 100 trillion cells, but only 10 trillions of them are human. The rest belong to the entities that call our body home. In Human Wildlife Robert Buckman takes us through a tour of the lives of the worms, bacteria, viruses and other creatures that live on and in us.

I picked up this book after listening to an interview with Dr Buckman. I was fascinated by the details Buckman provided on the origins of pheromones (produced by bacteria in our armpits), mouth breath (bacteria at the back of the tongue), and the cause of fart smell (colon bacteria breaking down proteins). What finally sold me on the book was the discussion on feces, a topic on which I know very little.

Now that I have finished reading the book I can say that I have not been disappointed. Buckman is informative while entertaining at the same time. His story about the fart-in-the-library problem made me laugh out loud I wish Buckman went into a little more details on some topics, but that can only be expected from an introductory text geared toward the general public.

Last but not least, the pictures and illustrations in this book are outstanding. I will never look at an eyebrow again without expecting to see a little Demodex, an eyebrow mite that two thirds of us carry, wiggling its tail back at me.

The book can be found at Amazon.

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25 Houses Under 3000 Square Feet

Justin — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 02:26:15 +0000

As the Small House Society points out, compact homes are efficient in many ways: they require less power, they require less maintenance, they require less materials to build, and they have smaller environmental footprint. Another advantage is that you can invest in land, rather than spend money building a huge home.

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Off The Grid Homes

Justin — Wed, 30 May 2007 20:27:24 +0000

In Off the Grid Homes, architect Lori Ryker, examines a number of modern homes that are “off grid” — meaning they are self-sustaining in regards to electrical power and water use. Looking at each home, she highlights the techniques that were used to generate power and conserve it.

Passive solar techniques are prominent in many homes, as well as intelligent designs, such as the indoor garden that transitions smoothly into a kitchen — tomatoes are growing right next to the kitchen counter. The book is available from Amazon.

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Solar Water Heating: Book Review

Justin — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 23:56:58 +0000

Solar Water Heating is the first book I’ve seen that focuses solely on solar water heating. It’s a technique that’s been practiced since ancient times, but until now there’s been strangely few resources on the topic for a North American audience. The author, Bob Ramlow, examines state-of-the-art solar heating systems. He covers not only solar water heaters, but also solar water and space house heating systems and solar pool heating systems, including their advantages and disadvantages. Since people often get turned off by the up-front cost, the book focuses especially on the financial aspects of solar water or space heating systems, and shows that such systems can save significant costs in the long run.

It’s available from Amazon for $16.47.

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Good Green Kitchens

Justin — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 17:11:11 +0000

This new book by Jennifer Roberts is a detailed and well-photographed guide to remodeling your kitchen using green techniques. Roberts examines green kitchen building materials in depth, and brief surveys water and energy efficiency in the kitchen. The book has over 150 color photographs, and includes case studies of some great looking green kitchens. The strength of this book is attention the author pays to weighing up the materials that go into a kitchen renovation. Each countertop material, for example, gets a full page discussion on it’s composition, manufacture and durability. I haven’t come across a more through examination of materials, with especially with an eye to their green attributes.

Available from Amazon for $19.77

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Carfree Cities: Where Are They?

Justin — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 21:36:41 +0000

Interested in knowing where you can find places free of cars? There’s an extensive list of carfree places around the world, available now on the Wikipedia. There’s also a book about Carfree Citites available. Here’s our review:

Imagine life in a city free from the noise, stench, and danger of cars, trucks, and buses. Imagine that all basic needs, from groceries to child care, lie within a five-minute walk of every doorstep. Imagine that no commute takes more than 35 minutes from door to door, and that service is provided by a fast, cheap, safe, comfortable public transport system. This is the future that J.H. Crawford envisions in Carfree Cities.

Crawford argues unapologetically that the car is a technology that has run wild, and that the time has come to reclaim city streets for human activities.

He proposes a city planned to maximize the quality of life for individuals and communities, and gives practical suggestions for implementing this basic design in both new and existing cities. He examines Venice as an example of a modern city that runs quite well with very few cars.

By rejecting the assumption that continued car use in cities is inevitable, Crawford takes us a step closer to the tantalizing possibility of a return to the pattern of lively, attractive streets that we had enjoyed for thousands of years, until the advent of automobiles.

The book is available from Amazon.

Website: Carfree Cities.

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Efficient: Eating Weeds

Justin — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 23:20:34 +0000

Weed ‘Em and Reap is a light-hearted but informative introduction to the free bounty of wild foods in lawns and woods, prairies and pastures. Even if you have no intentions of brewing up a crock of dandelion wine or tossing a salad of sour dock and purslane, you will enjoy reading Roger Welsch’s adventures in the world of weeds. We’re betting it won’t be long before you will be watching roadsides and byways for your own secret trove of morel mushrooms, wild asparagus, or elderberries.

Available from Amazon for about $10.

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