In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Al Gore's summer blockbuster An Inconvenient Truth, and crude oil prices soaring to all-time highs, more people than ever know the truth about our oil addiction. Global warming is here. M. King Hubbert's oil peak is fast approaching (or may already have arrived). The secret's out: fossil fuel reserves are dwindling and popular interest has created the need for accessible, realistic solutions. The Citizen-Powered Energy Handbook, a clear-eyed view of the critical situation we face, offers ways out. Greg Pahl examines energy technologies currently available and homes in on renewable energy strategies that can be adopted by individuals and communities. Such cooperative initiatives have been common in Europe for years and are beginning to gain a foothold in the US. Each chapter focuses on a different renewable energy category--solar, wind, water, biomass, liquid biofuels, and geothermal--then reviews their advantages and disadvantages and desccribes numerous examples of successful, proven local initiatives. The Citizen-Powered Energy Handbook is an eloquent appeal for community and regional action to initiate an array of solutions to energy needs until now controlled by large, distant utilities and consortiums. It is time to take back control of the energy and environmental challenges ahead; this book will help people do just that. It is a handbook for anyone ready to take the first steps towards a more sustainable future.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
The Citizen Powered Energy Handbook:
This is a great book and should be in everyones library.
Greg Pahl gives and great detailed over view of promising new and old technologies that could save Mankind.
Buy it read it and pass it on! Rich
"It's time to return to the community, make amends, clean up the mess and get back on the right path.":
This quote from Pat Murphy, Executive Director of Community Service Inc. and found on page 260 of "The Citizen-Powered Energy Guide: Community Solutions To A Global Crisis" seems to neatly sum up the overall theme of author Greg Pahl's terrific new book. It seems that the more I read about the problem of peak oil and the upcoming energy crunch the more convinced I become that these matters will need to be addressed and solved at the local level. The bad news is that our illustrious leaders in Washington... more info
It covers what communities can do!:
Rather than being a pie in the sky, the book shows what communities around the world are already doing to produce energy locally, rather than just getting it from the big utilities. Rather than coal, nuclear or other environmentally damaging methods, the books covers the how, whys, problems and opportunities of communities producing their own power. With global warming and peak oil looming, this book couldnot have been published at a better time.
