Energy, the environment and hot air
On 01-01-2010, in Environment - Without hot air, by phil
The book. Free!
Protecting the environment and using energy sustainably are both of great importance for Europe and the world. The SESAR Programme for ATM has, as one of its business objectives; “Reducing the environmental impact per flight by 10%”. Other European initiatives such as ACARE and Clean Sky aim at improving the efficiency and reducing the environmental impact of aircraft and engines. And Europe as a whole has set itself some very tough targets for reducing CO2. But what technologies should we be developing and what is physically possible? Far too much hot air is being talked by politicians and companies with vested interests who either don’t know the basic numbers, or who wish to become rich by selling their own pet projects.
Aviation is often victimised as one of the main offenders. Yet without aviation how well would our modern economy function? Transport is essential to the way we live, but what technologies should we use – biofuel, hydrogen, electricity or continue to burn hydrocarbons? We also need energy to heat our homes, our commercial buildings and to generate electricity, but should we use nuclear, solar, gas, clean coal, hydro-electric, wind, tide or wave? And in what proportion should these be used if we wish to live sustainably and as comfortably as we do now?
Synopsis. Free!
David MacKay, Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Department of Physics at Cambridge University has written a free internet book on the subject. He avoids political and ethical arguments and looks only at the physics of what is and is not possible. He presents the information in a readily understandable way. Even though he uses the United Kingdom to present his arguments the numbers are applicable for all of Europe.
I highly recommend this important book. Download your free copy here. A synopsis is also available here.
