Product Description

Everyone agrees we need to slash global greenhouse emissions. But how do we actually achieve that? Politicians can set targets and consumers can try to live greener lives. But the world will only avoid runaway global warming with the help of technological breakthroughs. In this fascinating book, Chris Goodall profiles ten technologies to watch, explaining how they work and telling the stories of the inventors and entrepreneurs driving them forward. Some of GoodallÂ’s selections, such as the electric car, are familiar. Others are more surprising. Algae, for example, can soak up carbon dioxide and produce fuel, while charcoal made from waste vegetable and forestry matter can lock carbon into soils and reduce the need for fertilizers. Cutting-edge and accessible, this is popular science at its most crucial.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42365 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 302 pages

Review
'Ten Technologies is superb - it cuts like lightning through the myths and muddled thinking surrounding energy issues. It is vital, topical, and a very fresh approach' Mark Lynas. '[A] brilliantly concise and clear-eyed account' Fred Pearce, New Scientist.

From the Back Cover
"Rewarding and essential, Ten Technologies combines rigorous research and an accessible tone." BBC Green Not all the news about climate change is bad. Scientists and entrepreneurs around the world are making rapid progress in working out how to keep the economy moving at the same time as reducing greenhouse gases. Could giant solar farms in the Sahara provide all of Europe's energy? Can we really expect to make petrol from wood and straw? Could burying charcoal help solve global warming? And can green energy actually help to revive the world economy? Combining cutting-edge analysis and the fascinating stories of inventors, scientists and entrepreneurs, Ten Technologies to Save the Planet answers these and many other questions, and busts a raft of myths along the way. Assessing everything from electric cars and carbon capture through to tidal turbines in the violent waters of the Pentland Firth, Chris Goodall doesn't pretend that the road ahead is easy, but he shows that we have the technology in development to address climate change. Engaging and authoritative, this is popular science writing at its most crucial.

About the Author
Chris Goodall is a world-leading expert on climate change solutions. He writes an environment column in the Independent on Sunday and regularly features on Newsnight and other television shows. His book, How to Live a Low-carbon Life, won the 2007 Clarion award for non-fiction, and he publishes Carbon Commentary, a website providing incisive appraisal of climate issues.

Customer Reviews

Absolutely excellent
Here's what Stephen Balbach (top 500 reviewer) said about this book over on Amazon US:

This is an absolutely excellent overview of the current state of green/clean technology and solutions to global warming.

I thought I already knew a lot about clean technology through blogs, science news and other books - and Goodall is current with the latest news up to early 2008. But there was hardly a page I did not learn something new, or had my perspectives changed about specific technologies. This is not starry-eyed techno optimism, nor a pessimists dark vision. Goodall takes a sober non-ideological and even-handed engineering perspective with lightly placed pronouncements on the viability of technologies, both good and bad, often convincingly overturning perceived wisdom and myth. The book would also make an excellent primer for anyone looking to invest in clean technology, it cuts through the hype and quickly gets to the bottom line of energy units and costs, and the risks of each technology. My copy is dogeared with some of the best specific products and companies to look into as investment potentials.

The chapter titles say a lot:

1. Capturing the wind
2. Solar energy
3. Electricity from the oceans
4. Combined heat and power
5. Super-efficient homes
6. Electric cars
7. Motor fuels from cellulose
8. Capturing carbon
9. Biochar
10. Soil and forests

Each chapter stands on its own and if your only interested in some the others can be skipped, but they are all fascinating. The author is British and it is written for an English audience, usually using British pounds and examples, but the US is mentioned many times and it is easy to extrapolate (many US companies are mentioned). It is very well written and easy to read.

Some examples of things in the book: because water is 1000 times heavier than air, underwater turbines harnessing tidal energy in places like Scotland and Canada have extremely "dense" energy potentials. And the technology, which is very simple, is already in place coming online at commercial scales soon. As well, wave power is a mature technology with big potential. Fuel cells for cars will probably never take off for reasons explained, but as electric generators in homes, it has a lot of potential. Carbon capture and storage, which I thought was pie in the sky, is actually a very viable technology up and working today in places in Europe. The book explains exactly how its done, and how it is stored underground.

Books like this which are so specific about technologies, policies and companies will become out of date quickly. They burn bright but quickly. Indeed the book was written before the crash in oil prices in the second half of 2008, so it sometimes reads from another era. However, it is still valuable and energy prices will inevitably rise again. Indeed the book is a sort of testament to the need for government help in keeping new technologies afloat during the occasional oil crashes.

Perfect
It does exactly what it says on the cover. If you are looking for an overview of the technologies which could be used to save us from ourselves this is it.

This isn't a one sided view from an environmentalist, this is an honest appraisal of the technologies with plenty of detail to satisfy the most enquiring reader.

A must read for anyone in a position to implement these technologies, policy makers or anyone with a interest in green issues.

As a bonus it's a really good read - I imagine that this could be quite a dry topic but the author does a great job of making all of the technologies sound interesting.

Ten Technologies To Save The Planet
Well researched and written (and hence very readable)assessment of technologies available for development to reduce our dependence upon fossil and nuclear fuels. Also highlights that few if any will become commercial until too late without political will.