Comments on: Five basic questions to answer in order to systematically integrate sustainable energy solutions

By: Tim Hewison

Tim Hewison — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:04:20 +0000

It is certainly refreshing to see energy costs being compared in this way – although hopefully the cost of newer technologies will reduce given sufficient investment.

I was also pleased to see you refer to David Mackay’s excellent book, which provides a balanced overview of our energy supply and demand. From this it is obvious that we not only need to radically change the way we generate and use energy – by more efficient use of technology – but also that we must reduce our rate of energy consumption if we are to live sustainably.

By: Francis Vanek

Francis Vanek — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:15:13 +0000

Good question! The intent of my article was to raise questions to think about, but there would be scope for a longer article that addresses the answers to the five questions in more depth.

Unfortunately, I have not seen such an article…

In the meantime you could piece together the answers from technical books on energy, like ours, or Jeff Tester et al’s “Sustainable Energy” or Fay and Golomb’s “Energy and the Environment”.

For quick access, David Mackay’s Sustainable Energy: Without Hot Air is now on the web at http://www.withouthotair.com/. Same thing, you’d need to piece together answers from a full-length e-book, it is not written for the exact purpose of answering five questions about different energy options.

Based on this comment, I’m inspired to submit a longer article to Earthzine sometime over the next 12 to 18 months. Looking forward to continuing the conversation (eventually).

“Sustainably Yours”,
Francis Vanek

By: Watch Year One Online

Watch Year One Online — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 19:43:56 +0000

After reading through the article, I just feel that I really need more information on the topic. Can you share some more resources ?
p.s. Year One is already on the Internet and you can watch it for free.