#19 in Energy production books
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Reddit mentions of Energy Myths and Realities: Bringing Science to the Energy Policy Debate
Sentiment score: 2
Reddit mentions: 2
We found 2 Reddit mentions of Energy Myths and Realities: Bringing Science to the Energy Policy Debate. Here are the top ones.
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Specs:
Height | 9.51 Inches |
Length | 6.39 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | August 2010 |
Weight | 1.06042348022 Pounds |
Width | 0.83 Inches |
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Maybe this site can help with some basic information. Valclav Smil is an excellent source for many areas you're investigating: Energy Transitions, Energy Myths and Realities, Rise and Retreat of American Manufacturing, Oil, Prime Movers of Globalization, and Energy at the Crossroads
There is a good book that explores this issue, with each chapter dealing with the consequences of +1ºC increase. This short TEDx presentation explains it more briefly although it's 2 years old.
In my opinion the most imminent problem is our food supply. As an example, in 2010 Russia suffered a heat wave that reduced it's wheat crops by around 30%. Russia is one of the top 5 wheat producers in the world. You can imagine that when this happens on a more global scale on different types of crops it will pump the food price index up, which will have disastrous consequences.
> There are a myriad of technologies that could change the course of human history and we just need to achieve one of then to massively increase our chances of long-term survival; fusion power, self-replicating nanomachines, mind uploading, human-like AGI, the realisation of an Alcubierre drive or discovery of wormholes...
It sounds great, but as of today it's science fiction. The reality is that globally most of our energy comes from fossil fuels. Oil production has become more and more expensive due to the fact that we have to dig deeper to find it, which is why most of the world is turning to coal and fracking (natural gas).
Vlacav Smil points out in one of his books that even in the case of oil, the cheapest and more abundant energy humanity has ever found so far, it took many decades to switch from coal as the primary energy source during the 20th century. At that time, the EREOI of oil was about 100:1. So even if today we had a thorium or cold fusion reactor already working, the investment to switch from fossil fuels would be huge in time and money. Of course the effort would only be possible if every government on earth understood the gravity of the situation. But the world is still arguing if climate change is even real...