Reddit mentions: The best alternative & renewable energy books

If you're looking for a course introductory book with some (very little) math, you could look at F.F.Chen, the standard undergrad plasma book. It's a bit simplistic, but it's an easy overview of plasma physics. He also wrote a more pop-sci-esque book that is (supposedly, I haven't read this one) a very good and informative book that avoids math completely.

If you wanted more rigor and details, you can try the Goldston book which has the basic concepts like F.F.Chen without the babying. I used the Goldston to review general concepts sometimes, but with more complicated or modern stuff, you have to just read papers.

Personally, my favorite is the free book/html/pdf offered by Fitzpatrick. It's got good organization, pretty good explanations, and doesn't skirt the mathematics. There are some more detailed books for specific things (such as Ideal MHD by Friedberg, Plasma Diagnostics by Hutchinson, Plasma Waves by Stix, Plasma Astrophysics by Tajima, and a crapton other).

In any case, I would say, go with the pop-sci one if you don't want to look into the math, go into the F.F.Chen intro book if you want to look at math but aren't strong in math, and go with the Fitzpatrick if you want to learn on the side, don't mind the math, and you're pretty good in math.

There's an out-of-print book simply called "Passive Solar Energy." It's got lots of great information; I bet it will be just what you are looking for as far as the physics of solar energy and thermosiphoning (which is essentially "heated fluid rises because it's less dense than cooler fluid"). I'm an engineer and I really think that book gives you all you need to know to have a basic working knowledge of solar heat gain and how various systems of solar energy capture operate. Here's a list of books I have found helpful and/or interesting in regards to solar energy:

• Passive Solar Energy - The top link is a link to pdf's of the chapters of the book.
  
  
• The Passive Solar Energy Book - VERY in-depth on passive solar theory, design, and construction.
  
  
• Solar Air Heating Systems - Another design and construction book, specifically about solar air heating.
  
  
  
• The Solar Greenhouse Book - Name says it all. It's all about passive solar greenhouses.
  
  
• A Golden Thread - Really interesting book about how man has worked with the sun in building design through the history of civilization.
  
  
  For earthships/earth-sheltered homes, I recommend these books:
  
  
• Earth-Sheltered Housing Design - One of the most detailed and complete books on earth-sheltering available. Not earthships, but the same ideas apply.
  
  
• Earth-Sheltered Houses - Another essential book for earth-sheltering houses. Author has built several of his own and remains an authority in the subject as well as cordwood building, for which he has also written books.
  
  
• Earth-Sheltered Solar Greenhouses - Combines two subjects for a very Permaculture-appropriate building technique.
  
  
• Earthship Vol I and II - Needs no explaining.
  
  
  From my experience in university studying fluid dynamics, I recommend not going any deeper into the subject than what you would find in the solar energy books I listed above. The subject is math-heavy, and the academic study of the topic is not going to help you with what you are interested in with permaculture. It's kind of like studying the abstract physics/math of electromagnetism when all you want to do is wire a house.
  
  Hope this helps!

You're thinking far too small. We don't need to leave the solar system to find other environments to live - we can easily (relatively speaking) create such places here in the solar system, almost anywhere we choose. If your conception is that we have to live on a planetary body, jettison it, and you'll find a lot more options open up. Within current engineering ability, we can build large, earthlike habitats that offer 1G.

It's not about saving a few thousand people, or about the very richest of humanity escaping. It's about using the resources of space in a big way to both enrich those on Earth, by providing lots of clean energy from space, and seeing millions of people living and working offworld. We have the ability to do it, and if we use it wisely, it will help us clean up Earth faster than expecting all our solutions to come from what we have on Earth itself.

For a more hopeful view of the future than what you see, I seriously recommend reading both of these books: The High Frontier and 2081. I think you'll find that there's a lot more to recommend to space travel and use than what the public has been exposed to through decades of government dominance.

I would hazard a guess that it's unlikely you will get much power out of a residential wind turbine.

The power generated by a wind turbine is calculated by:

0.5x[area]x[air density]x[power coefficient]x[wind speed]^3

The air density at sea level is 1.225 kg/m^3. The area is the sweep area of the rotor. So if your blades are 1 m long, the sweep area will be 3.14 m^2.

The power coefficient changes with the wind speed, but will always be less than 0.593. In practice, this number will rarely reach above 0.45 due to the energy lost in the generator.

The wind speed will be location dependent. It tends to be pretty low down at surface level tends. This is because trees, buildings etc will slow the wind speed down significantly. I think 5 m/s would be a high average. For Australia, you can go to this link. You can select "Climate Statistics" in the left hand column and select any observation station. You can see the monthly wind speeds and you'll notice it pretty much rarely goes above 5 m/s.

So assuming a 1 m blade, sea level air density, a 0.4 power coefficient which is pretty generous for a home made wind turbine and 5 m/s wind speed, you are looking at 100 W of power generation.

Edit: This is a pretty good book for the theory side of things, but I don't think it'll help with building any DIY turbine.

What exactly are you trying to learn? The process? The politics? Do you have a certain renewable in mind (solar, wind, hydro, geothermal?) Are you most interested in electrical generation technologies? Or moreso passive technology like water heating? I mean, there's alot to it... I have multiple degrees in renewables so just let me know what you want to know and I can point you in the direction.

Edit:
https://www.amazon.com/Alternative-Energy-Dummies-Rik-DeGunther/dp/0470430621

^if you're looking for a good book to start with maybe this would be good.

Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying. The net reaction is H + HOH (catalyst) -> H[1/4] + HOH + 208 eV (208 eV is alot of energy). H[1/n] is fractional (i.e. Rydberg) Hydrogen. The trick is that this has to happen in an arc current plasma in order to prevent the ionization of the water catalyst from becoming rate limiting. The arc current plasma provides negative resistance and therefore the reaction becomes heavily favored and you get highly energetic kinetics.

Here's a video of a one-hour test run of the reactor clearly demonstrating 40 to 80 kW of constant energy output. The fuel consumed was approximately 4 tsps of H2O. The reaction converted the H atoms into a lower energy form of hydrogen. If you want to learn about the process, I suggest Holverstott's book.

We'll have a working fusion reactor (DEMO) putting electricity into the grid by 2050. That is the goal the fusion community has set, and if it isn't met there is very little hope for continued political support. We could do it much, much sooner though if we had the funding (along the lines of the Apollo program). For more on this see An Indispensable Truth by FF Chen

My point was that a fusion rocket is very different from a fusion reactor because the plasma confinement requirements for a rocket are much less than for a reactor. Furthermore you don't need all of the hardware for heat exchange or radiation shielding with a rocket. You only need to shield the astronaut habitat, which can be on the far end of the vehicle, and which already requires shielding from background radiation.

Old but good: The High Frontier, with the studies for orbital colonies from the 70s.

There's also the recent "update" The High Frontier: An Easier Way.

This: The Chemistry and Manufacture of Hydrogen is one of the best books I've ever owned. It was printed in 1901 and it describes how they used acid and different field metals (scrap barbed wire, etc.) to create hydrogen to fill air balloons during the civil war. It gave the north a distinct advantage over the south as we were able to see them coming from great distances. It also has plans for an old electrolyzer that separates hydrogen from oxygen, so that both gases can be collected for their respective use. It's bully.

Dangerous is subjective. but cost, time, energy production life, and disposal are not which is why wind and solar are the better options and it wasn't green peace that convinced us that nuclear was not viable it was economics. Find this book at your local library https://www.amazon.com/Great-Transition-Shifting-Fossil-Energy/dp/039335055X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1485375068&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Great+Transition

You’re an uninformed person who just ignored the point I made that we burn 85% of oil as fuel which is incredibly inefficient for a nonrenewable source of energy. Im surprised you’re not advocating for the genocide of whales to collect their blubber. Solar panel processing is more efficient because you can recycle them and reuse the materials. You cant do that with co2 in the atmosphere.


Go read a textbook. I recommend this one

So for Space colonization you really cannot go wrong with:

• 'Mining the sky' - By John S. Lewis
  
  
• 'The High Frontier' - By Gerard K. O'Neill
  
  There are a lot of other books on colonising space, but these are the pair I have read and they are still entirely valid pieces of work (imo). An other you might want to check out is ['The Starflight Handbook' - By Eugene F. Mallove] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Starflight-Handbook-Pioneers-Interstellar-Editions/dp/0471619124/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465674138&sr=8-1&keywords=starflight+handbook) which covers the maths behind conceivable interstellar propulsion methods. All very cool stuff.
  

For non-fiction I'd recommend:

• An Indispensable Truth by Francis Chen - Chen is a world famous Plasma Physicist who stands out in all areas of the field, excelling in theory, experiment and even engineering. In this book he looks at the energy crisis and climate change and the ability of fusion power to solve both. The book is written for laymen but will teach you some pretty cool physics (Raleigh-Taylor instabilities anyone?) so even if you disagree with his conclusions you'll have learned a lot!
  
  
• Towards A New Socialism by Cockshott and Cottrell - Although the title may discourage many - it contains groundbreaking ideas about the application of technology to governance. It introduces and explains many technical concepts such as neural networks etc. and economic theories, and how they may be used to create a working economic system. This is not another left-wing whinging book at all, it is quite technical and I would say it is a must-read for anyone who claims to seriously ponder future governments and socio-economic systems.

Carbon is so much more efficient than other sources of energy that it is likely we will burn ALL of it (including coal) before completely moving to alternatives.

Read this interesting book on the physics of power, batteries, etc: https://www.amazon.com/Powering-Future-Eventually-Civilization-Tomorrow/dp/0465022200

Good point. 23 years (33 - 10) is only a fraction of the probable lifetime of factories, which I'm guessing is 40-60 years.

I still don't believe in that solar hype. The case for solar was comprehensively deconstructed in The Solar Fraud based on fundamental physical limits. Though naturally enough that's not a very popular book in "green" circles.

The thing that's galling though is that it's "greens" who are yearning to give everyone an incentive to raze the rainforests in order to pave the planet with solar panels.

Here are some more cool stuff on Rotating Habitats if your interested.

Here is a video about them by this great Youtube channel Issac Arthur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86JAU3w9mB8&list=PLIIOUpOge0LtW77TNvgrWWu5OC3EOwqxQ&index=5

And here is the first book I read on them, written by the designer of this concept, Gerald O'neill himself
https://www.amazon.com/High-Frontier-Human-Colonies-Space-ebook/dp/B00CB3SIAI

I would say this book is pretty comprehensive:
http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Photovoltaic-Science-Engineering-Antonio/dp/0470721693/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323196031&sr=1-1

For a great history on wind power technology, markets and policies see the recent book The Wind Power Story

That was O'Neill's original plan. I just picked up a new edition of his book, and in the forward he said it turned out not to have much advantage over other high circular orbits.

And if you want to balance out your view you should also consider both sides

http://astore.amazon.com/wwwmichaelcot-20/detail/0521173159

http://www.amazon.com/Climate-Change-Observed-impacts-Planet/dp/044453301X/ref=cm_lmf_tit_1

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10300308-living-in-denial

http://www.amazon.com/Discovery-Global-Warming-Histories-Technology/dp/067403189X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274888732&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Climate-Uncertainty-William-Stewart/dp/0976729164/ref=cm_lmf_tit_3

http://astore.amazon.com/wwwmichaelcot-20/detail/1597265675

http://www.amazon.com/The-Weather-Makers-Changing-Climate/dp/B001PO66MG/ref=cm_lmf_tit_1

http://knopfdoubleday.com/2012/06/25/global-weirdness-by-climate-central/

http://mark-bowen.com/book_cs.html

http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Flat-Crowded-2-0-Revolution/dp/0312428928/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274888779&sr=1-1

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/six-degrees-mark-lynas/1100833125

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15856813-overheated

http://astore.amazon.com/wwwmichaelcot-20/detail/1608193942

http://www.amazon.com/Science-Contact-Sport-Inside-Climate/dp/1426205406/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274888885&sr=1-1

http://astore.amazon.com/wwwmichaelcot-20/detail/0822351099

http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Capitalism-Creating-Industrial-Revolution/dp/0316353000/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274888939&sr=1-1

What type of Space Station O'Neill Cylinder (i.e. Babylon 5), or a ring station, or a 0g space station? O'Neill Cylinders could handle just about anything, a Island 3 Type O'Neill Cylinder is as wide as B5 was supposed to be long 20 Miles by 5 Miles. 0g limits the types of foods you can grow but it is still possible. If you can't guess I recommend O'Neill Cylinders.

The Round Table - Gerard K. O'Neill, Issac Asimov.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM88sUBTTRM

The High Frontier: Human Colonies In Space by Gerard O'Neill
https://www.amazon.com/High-Frontier-Human-Colonies-Space-ebook/dp/B00CB3SIAI

The most condescending Iranian looking liberal cocksucker I have ever seen in my life.

Solar energy is not "dense" enough to compete with fossil fuels.

http://www.amazon.com/Solar-Fraud-Energy-World-Second/dp/0971484546

> Some random undergraduate's take on this subject is hardly definitive.
>

Hmm...
The guy's professor for that class was/is Robert B. Laughlin, recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics, who recently (2011) published a book, Powering the Future: How We Will (Eventually) Solve the Energy Crisis and Fuel the Civilization of Tomorrow_

On page 56, he says:

Nuclear reactions present two serious problems that set them apart from all other energy sources: The waste products they leave behind remain dangerously radioactive for very long times (one thousand years to three hundred thousand year, depending on your danger tolerance), and the explosions they facilitate are a million times more powerful than those of dynamite. Both require extraordinary measures to mitigate, and both are intractable. No country has managed to commit itself to any long-term burial site for its nuclear waste, even though everyone has understood the need for such burial for over fifty years. No country has credibly quantified how good its security is a preventing determined people from diverting nuclear material from peaceful power programs to make weapons. No country treats nuclear energy in a nonmilitary way. All countries censor news about nuclear energy--although some are better at it than others. The underlying problems are so great that this situation is probably permanent.

.

Professor Laughlin suggests that eventually, any alternate fuel will need to be measured in terms of its relative cost vs nuclear power, including all expenses like ongoing waste disposal, so its not like he is anti-nuclear, just more realistic about the issues than your presentation seems to be.