Author: Michael Thackeray
Publisher: Archway Publishing
ISBN: 1480876089
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 170
Book Description
In answer to the call for electric vehicles to counter the oil embargo and crisis in the Middle East during the mid-1970s, researchers at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa initiated a twenty-year research programme that led to the discoveries of a novel, rechargeable, high-temperature sodium battery and new materials for ambient-temperature lithium batteries. The latter research laid the foundation for advances in lithium-ion technology that now commands a multibillion-dollar industry. Running with Lithium--Empowering the Earth follows the path of science from materials' discovery to commercial use and the protection of intellectual property. Author Michael Thackeray shares his memoir and a story about decision-making and the consequences of choice on the course of a life in a highly competitive world while encountering big changes, experiences, and remarkable coincidences along the way. Running with Lithium--Empowering the Earth emphasizes the need for clean energy and a rapid redirection of human ingenuity to undo the ecological damage that has been inflicted on earth since the Industrial Revolution some two hundred years ago. Follow Michael's journey and be inspired to engage in a scientific career--at a time when the world's growing number of inhabitants have an increasingly unequal share of its resources and in which life and survival are being challenged by an urgent need for clean energy and an electrification of the planet.
Running with Lithium—Empowering the Earth
Author: Michael Thackeray
Publisher: Archway Publishing
ISBN: 1480876089
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 170
Book Description
In answer to the call for electric vehicles to counter the oil embargo and crisis in the Middle East during the mid-1970s, researchers at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa initiated a twenty-year research programme that led to the discoveries of a novel, rechargeable, high-temperature sodium battery and new materials for ambient-temperature lithium batteries. The latter research laid the foundation for advances in lithium-ion technology that now commands a multibillion-dollar industry. Running with Lithium--Empowering the Earth follows the path of science from materials' discovery to commercial use and the protection of intellectual property. Author Michael Thackeray shares his memoir and a story about decision-making and the consequences of choice on the course of a life in a highly competitive world while encountering big changes, experiences, and remarkable coincidences along the way. Running with Lithium--Empowering the Earth emphasizes the need for clean energy and a rapid redirection of human ingenuity to undo the ecological damage that has been inflicted on earth since the Industrial Revolution some two hundred years ago. Follow Michael's journey and be inspired to engage in a scientific career--at a time when the world's growing number of inhabitants have an increasingly unequal share of its resources and in which life and survival are being challenged by an urgent need for clean energy and an electrification of the planet.
Publisher: Archway Publishing
ISBN: 1480876089
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 170
Book Description
In answer to the call for electric vehicles to counter the oil embargo and crisis in the Middle East during the mid-1970s, researchers at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa initiated a twenty-year research programme that led to the discoveries of a novel, rechargeable, high-temperature sodium battery and new materials for ambient-temperature lithium batteries. The latter research laid the foundation for advances in lithium-ion technology that now commands a multibillion-dollar industry. Running with Lithium--Empowering the Earth follows the path of science from materials' discovery to commercial use and the protection of intellectual property. Author Michael Thackeray shares his memoir and a story about decision-making and the consequences of choice on the course of a life in a highly competitive world while encountering big changes, experiences, and remarkable coincidences along the way. Running with Lithium--Empowering the Earth emphasizes the need for clean energy and a rapid redirection of human ingenuity to undo the ecological damage that has been inflicted on earth since the Industrial Revolution some two hundred years ago. Follow Michael's journey and be inspired to engage in a scientific career--at a time when the world's growing number of inhabitants have an increasingly unequal share of its resources and in which life and survival are being challenged by an urgent need for clean energy and an electrification of the planet.
Long Hard Road
Author: Charles J. Murray
Publisher: Purdue University Press
ISBN: 1612497632
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 223
Book Description
Long Hard Road: The Lithium-Ion Battery and the Electric Car provides an inside look at the birth of the lithium-ion battery, from its origins in academic labs around the world to its transition to its new role as the future of automotive power. It chronicles the piece-by-piece development of the battery, from its early years when it was met by indifference from industry to its later emergence in Japan where it served in camcorders, laptops, and cell phones. The book is the first to provide a glimpse inside the Japanese corporate culture that turned the lithium-ion chemistry into a commercial product. It shows the intense race between two companies, Asahi Chemical and Sony Corporation, to develop a suitable anode. It also explains, for the first time, why one Japanese manufacturer had to build its first preproduction cells in a converted truck garage in Boston, Massachusetts. Building on that history, Long Hard Road then takes readers inside the auto industry to show how lithium-ion solved the problems of earlier battery chemistries and transformed the electric car into a viable competitor. Starting with the Henry Ford and Thomas Edison electric car of 1914, it chronicles a long list of automotive failures, then shows how a small California car converter called AC Propulsion laid the foundation for a revolution by packing its car with thousands of tiny lithium-ion cells. The book then takes readers inside the corporate board rooms of Detroit to show how mainstream automakers finally decided to adopt lithium-ion. Long Hard Road is unique in its telling of the lithium-ion tale, revealing that the battery chemistry was not the product of a single inventor, nor the dream of just three Nobel Prize winners, but rather was the culmination of dozens of scientific breakthroughs from many inventors whose work was united to create a product that ultimately changed the world.
Publisher: Purdue University Press
ISBN: 1612497632
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 223
Book Description
Long Hard Road: The Lithium-Ion Battery and the Electric Car provides an inside look at the birth of the lithium-ion battery, from its origins in academic labs around the world to its transition to its new role as the future of automotive power. It chronicles the piece-by-piece development of the battery, from its early years when it was met by indifference from industry to its later emergence in Japan where it served in camcorders, laptops, and cell phones. The book is the first to provide a glimpse inside the Japanese corporate culture that turned the lithium-ion chemistry into a commercial product. It shows the intense race between two companies, Asahi Chemical and Sony Corporation, to develop a suitable anode. It also explains, for the first time, why one Japanese manufacturer had to build its first preproduction cells in a converted truck garage in Boston, Massachusetts. Building on that history, Long Hard Road then takes readers inside the auto industry to show how lithium-ion solved the problems of earlier battery chemistries and transformed the electric car into a viable competitor. Starting with the Henry Ford and Thomas Edison electric car of 1914, it chronicles a long list of automotive failures, then shows how a small California car converter called AC Propulsion laid the foundation for a revolution by packing its car with thousands of tiny lithium-ion cells. The book then takes readers inside the corporate board rooms of Detroit to show how mainstream automakers finally decided to adopt lithium-ion. Long Hard Road is unique in its telling of the lithium-ion tale, revealing that the battery chemistry was not the product of a single inventor, nor the dream of just three Nobel Prize winners, but rather was the culmination of dozens of scientific breakthroughs from many inventors whose work was united to create a product that ultimately changed the world.
Running With Lithium Empowering the Earth
Author: Michael Thackeray
Publisher: Archway Publishing
ISBN: 9781480876101
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 194
Book Description
In answer to the call for electric vehicles to counter the oil embargo and crisis in the Middle East during the mid-1970s, researchers at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa initiated a twenty-year research programme that led to the discoveries of a novel, rechargeable, high-temperature sodium battery and new materials for ambient-temperature lithium batteries. The latter research laid the foundation for advances in lithium-ion technology that now commands a multibillion-dollar industry. Running with Lithium--Empowering the Earth follows the path of science from materials' discovery to commercial use and the protection of intellectual property. Author Michael Thackeray shares his memoir and a story about decision-making and the consequences of choice on the course of a life in a highly competitive world while encountering big changes, experiences, and remarkable coincidences along the way. Running with Lithium--Empowering the Earth emphasizes the need for clean energy and a rapid redirection of human ingenuity to undo the ecological damage that has been inflicted on earth since the Industrial Revolution some two hundred years ago. Follow Michael's journey and be inspired to engage in a scientific career--at a time when the world's growing number of inhabitants have an increasingly unequal share of its resources and in which life and survival are being challenged by an urgent need for clean energy and an electrification of the planet.
Publisher: Archway Publishing
ISBN: 9781480876101
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 194
Book Description
In answer to the call for electric vehicles to counter the oil embargo and crisis in the Middle East during the mid-1970s, researchers at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa initiated a twenty-year research programme that led to the discoveries of a novel, rechargeable, high-temperature sodium battery and new materials for ambient-temperature lithium batteries. The latter research laid the foundation for advances in lithium-ion technology that now commands a multibillion-dollar industry. Running with Lithium--Empowering the Earth follows the path of science from materials' discovery to commercial use and the protection of intellectual property. Author Michael Thackeray shares his memoir and a story about decision-making and the consequences of choice on the course of a life in a highly competitive world while encountering big changes, experiences, and remarkable coincidences along the way. Running with Lithium--Empowering the Earth emphasizes the need for clean energy and a rapid redirection of human ingenuity to undo the ecological damage that has been inflicted on earth since the Industrial Revolution some two hundred years ago. Follow Michael's journey and be inspired to engage in a scientific career--at a time when the world's growing number of inhabitants have an increasingly unequal share of its resources and in which life and survival are being challenged by an urgent need for clean energy and an electrification of the planet.
Artificial Intelligence and the Environmental Crisis
Author: Keith Ronald Skene
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 042961909X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 278
Book Description
A radical and challenging book which argues that artificial intelligence needs a completely different set of foundations, based on ecological intelligence rather than human intelligence, if it is to deliver on the promise of a better world. This can usher in the greatest transformation in human history, an age of re-integration. Our very existence is dependent upon our context within the Earth System, and so, surely, artificial intelligence must also be grounded within this context, embracing emergence, interconnectedness and real-time feedback. We discover many positive outcomes across the societal, economic and environmental arenas and discuss how this transformation can be delivered. Key Features: Identifies a key weakness in current AI thinking, that threatens any hope of a better world. Highlights the importance of realizing that systems theory is an essential foundation for any technology that hopes to positively transform our world. Emphasizes the need for a radical new approach to AI, based on ecological systems. Explains why ecosystem intelligence, not human intelligence, offers the best framework for AI. Examines how this new approach will impact on the three arenas of society, environment and economics, ushering in a new age of re-integration.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 042961909X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 278
Book Description
A radical and challenging book which argues that artificial intelligence needs a completely different set of foundations, based on ecological intelligence rather than human intelligence, if it is to deliver on the promise of a better world. This can usher in the greatest transformation in human history, an age of re-integration. Our very existence is dependent upon our context within the Earth System, and so, surely, artificial intelligence must also be grounded within this context, embracing emergence, interconnectedness and real-time feedback. We discover many positive outcomes across the societal, economic and environmental arenas and discuss how this transformation can be delivered. Key Features: Identifies a key weakness in current AI thinking, that threatens any hope of a better world. Highlights the importance of realizing that systems theory is an essential foundation for any technology that hopes to positively transform our world. Emphasizes the need for a radical new approach to AI, based on ecological systems. Explains why ecosystem intelligence, not human intelligence, offers the best framework for AI. Examines how this new approach will impact on the three arenas of society, environment and economics, ushering in a new age of re-integration.
Bottled Lightning
Author: Seth Fletcher
Publisher: Hill and Wang
ISBN: 1429922915
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
Lithium batteries may hold the key to an environmentally sustainable, oil-independent future. From electric cars to a "smart" power grid that can actually store electricity, letting us harness the powers of the sun and the wind and use them when we need them, lithium—a metal half as dense as water, found primarily in some of the most uninhabitable places on earth—has the potential to set us on a path toward a low-carbon energy economy. In Bottled Lightning, the science reporter Seth Fletcher takes us on a fascinating journey, from the salt flats of Bolivia to the labs of MIT and Stanford, from the turmoil at GM to cutting-edge lithium-ion battery start-ups, introducing us to the key players and ideas in an industry with the power to reshape the world. Lithium is the thread that ties together many key stories of our time: the environmental movement; the American auto industry, staking its revival on the electrification of cars and trucks; the struggle between first-world countries in need of natural resources and the impoverished countries where those resources are found; and the overwhelming popularity of the portable, Internet-connected gadgets that are changing the way we communicate. With nearly limitless possibilities, the promise of lithium offers new hope to a foundering American economy desperately searching for a green-tech boom to revive it.
Publisher: Hill and Wang
ISBN: 1429922915
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
Lithium batteries may hold the key to an environmentally sustainable, oil-independent future. From electric cars to a "smart" power grid that can actually store electricity, letting us harness the powers of the sun and the wind and use them when we need them, lithium—a metal half as dense as water, found primarily in some of the most uninhabitable places on earth—has the potential to set us on a path toward a low-carbon energy economy. In Bottled Lightning, the science reporter Seth Fletcher takes us on a fascinating journey, from the salt flats of Bolivia to the labs of MIT and Stanford, from the turmoil at GM to cutting-edge lithium-ion battery start-ups, introducing us to the key players and ideas in an industry with the power to reshape the world. Lithium is the thread that ties together many key stories of our time: the environmental movement; the American auto industry, staking its revival on the electrification of cars and trucks; the struggle between first-world countries in need of natural resources and the impoverished countries where those resources are found; and the overwhelming popularity of the portable, Internet-connected gadgets that are changing the way we communicate. With nearly limitless possibilities, the promise of lithium offers new hope to a foundering American economy desperately searching for a green-tech boom to revive it.
The Race for What's Left
Author: Michael T. Klare
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1429973307
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 464
Book Description
From Michael Klare, the renowned expert on natural resource issues, an invaluable account of a new and dangerous global competition The world is facing an unprecedented crisis of resource depletion—a crisis that goes beyond "peak oil" to encompass shortages of coal and uranium, copper and lithium, water and arable land. With all of the planet's easily accessible resource deposits rapidly approaching exhaustion, the desperate hunt for supplies has become a frenzy of extreme exploration, as governments and corporations rush to stake their claim in areas previously considered too dangerous and remote. The Race for What's Left takes us from the Arctic to war zones to deep ocean floors, from a Russian submarine planting the country's flag on the North Pole seabed to the large-scale buying up of African farmland by Saudi Arabia, China, and other food-importing nations. As Klare explains, this invasion of the final frontiers carries grave consequences. With resource extraction growing more complex, the environmental risks are becoming increasingly severe; the Deepwater Horizon disaster is only a preview of the dangers to come. At the same time, the intense search for dwindling supplies is igniting new border disputes, raising the likelihood of military confrontation. Inevitably, if the scouring of the globe continues on its present path, many key resources that modern industry relies upon will disappear completely. The only way out, Klare argues, is to alter our consumption patterns altogether—a crucial task that will be the greatest challenge of the coming century.
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1429973307
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 464
Book Description
From Michael Klare, the renowned expert on natural resource issues, an invaluable account of a new and dangerous global competition The world is facing an unprecedented crisis of resource depletion—a crisis that goes beyond "peak oil" to encompass shortages of coal and uranium, copper and lithium, water and arable land. With all of the planet's easily accessible resource deposits rapidly approaching exhaustion, the desperate hunt for supplies has become a frenzy of extreme exploration, as governments and corporations rush to stake their claim in areas previously considered too dangerous and remote. The Race for What's Left takes us from the Arctic to war zones to deep ocean floors, from a Russian submarine planting the country's flag on the North Pole seabed to the large-scale buying up of African farmland by Saudi Arabia, China, and other food-importing nations. As Klare explains, this invasion of the final frontiers carries grave consequences. With resource extraction growing more complex, the environmental risks are becoming increasingly severe; the Deepwater Horizon disaster is only a preview of the dangers to come. At the same time, the intense search for dwindling supplies is igniting new border disputes, raising the likelihood of military confrontation. Inevitably, if the scouring of the globe continues on its present path, many key resources that modern industry relies upon will disappear completely. The only way out, Klare argues, is to alter our consumption patterns altogether—a crucial task that will be the greatest challenge of the coming century.
Sun Power
Author: Neville Williams
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0765333775
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 385
Book Description
"America, as well as the rest of the world, is on the brink of an energy revolution that can save the planet, and increase peace and prosperity, by harnessing the unlimited power of the sun ... the technology now exists to replace our dangerous addiction to fossil fuels with cheap, clean solar energy ... Neville Williams has been on the leading edge of this revolution for decades and knows from firsthand experience how sun power can transform lives and communities for the better. For more than twenty years, he has traveled the globe, bringing solar-generated electricity to struggling communities throughout Asia, Africa, India, and the developing world ... Williams has worked to introduce sun power to even the most off-the-grid reaches of the planet--and then brought that knowledge and experience back to America, where he founded one of the country's fastest-growing solar companies"--Back cover.
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0765333775
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 385
Book Description
"America, as well as the rest of the world, is on the brink of an energy revolution that can save the planet, and increase peace and prosperity, by harnessing the unlimited power of the sun ... the technology now exists to replace our dangerous addiction to fossil fuels with cheap, clean solar energy ... Neville Williams has been on the leading edge of this revolution for decades and knows from firsthand experience how sun power can transform lives and communities for the better. For more than twenty years, he has traveled the globe, bringing solar-generated electricity to struggling communities throughout Asia, Africa, India, and the developing world ... Williams has worked to introduce sun power to even the most off-the-grid reaches of the planet--and then brought that knowledge and experience back to America, where he founded one of the country's fastest-growing solar companies"--Back cover.
Empowering Communities
Author: Ecodem Press
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780966504859
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 100
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780966504859
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 100
Book Description
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster
Author: Bill Gates
Publisher: Knopf Canada
ISBN: 0735280452
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NATIONAL BESTSELLER In this urgent, singularly authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical--and accessible--plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid an irreversible climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help and guidance of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science and finance, he has focused on exactly what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide toward certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only gathers together all the information we need to fully grasp how important it is that we work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases but also details exactly what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. He describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions; where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively; where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions--suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but by following the guidelines he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.
Publisher: Knopf Canada
ISBN: 0735280452
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NATIONAL BESTSELLER In this urgent, singularly authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical--and accessible--plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid an irreversible climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help and guidance of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science and finance, he has focused on exactly what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide toward certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only gathers together all the information we need to fully grasp how important it is that we work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases but also details exactly what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. He describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions; where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively; where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions--suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but by following the guidelines he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.
The End of Doom
Author: Ronald Bailey
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1466861444
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
In the past five decades there have been many, many forecasts of impending environmental doom. They have universally been proven wrong. Meanwhile, those who have bet on human resourcefulness have almost always been correct. In his widely praised book Ecoscam, Ronald Bailey strongly countered environmentalist alarmism, using facts to demonstrate just how wildly overstated many claims of impending ecological doom really were. Now, twenty years later, the Reason Magazine science correspondent is back to assess the future of humanity and the global biosphere. Bailey finds, contrary to popular belief, that many present ecological trends are quite positive. Including: Falling cancer incidence rates in the United States. The likelihood of a declining world population by mid-century. The abundant return of agricultural land to nature as the world reaches peak farmland. A proven link between increases in national wealth and reductions in air and water pollution Global warming is a problem, but the cost of clean energy could soon fall below that of fossil fuels. In The End of Doom, Bailey avoids polemics and offers a balanced, fact-based and ultimately hopeful perspective on our current environmental situation. Now isn't that a breath of fresh air?
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1466861444
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
In the past five decades there have been many, many forecasts of impending environmental doom. They have universally been proven wrong. Meanwhile, those who have bet on human resourcefulness have almost always been correct. In his widely praised book Ecoscam, Ronald Bailey strongly countered environmentalist alarmism, using facts to demonstrate just how wildly overstated many claims of impending ecological doom really were. Now, twenty years later, the Reason Magazine science correspondent is back to assess the future of humanity and the global biosphere. Bailey finds, contrary to popular belief, that many present ecological trends are quite positive. Including: Falling cancer incidence rates in the United States. The likelihood of a declining world population by mid-century. The abundant return of agricultural land to nature as the world reaches peak farmland. A proven link between increases in national wealth and reductions in air and water pollution Global warming is a problem, but the cost of clean energy could soon fall below that of fossil fuels. In The End of Doom, Bailey avoids polemics and offers a balanced, fact-based and ultimately hopeful perspective on our current environmental situation. Now isn't that a breath of fresh air?