How to Obtain Abundant Clean Energy

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

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2. The Approaching Energy Disaster

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

   2. What is Energy?

      • Linda Baine McGown, John O’M. Bockris

      Pages 3-12

   3. What Part Does Energy Play in Our Lives?

      • Linda Baine McGown, John O’M. Bockris

      Pages 13-24

   4. How Do We Get Our Energy Right Now?

      • Linda Baine McGown, John O’M. Bockris

      Pages 25-38

   5. Shall We Run Out of Energy in Our Time?

      • Linda Baine McGown, John O’M. Bockris

      Pages 39-54

   6. How Long Does It Take to Develop and Build Up a New Technology?

      • Linda Baine McGown, John O’M. Bockris

      Pages 55-62

3. Alternatives: What Could Replace Our Exhausting Fuels?

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 63-67

      PDF

   2. The Dream of Cheap, Clean Atomic Energy

      • Linda Baine McGown, John O’M. Bockris

      Pages 69-79

   3. Fission Reactors—What Can Go Wrong

      • Linda Baine McGown, John O’M. Bockris

      Pages 81-89

   4. Dreaming about the Future: Abundant Clean Energy from Atomic Fusion

      • Linda Baine McGown, John O’M. Bockris

      Pages 91-106

   5. The Most Available Energy Source: The Sun

      • Linda Baine McGown, John O’M. Bockris

      Pages 107-124

   6. Converting Solar Energy to Useful Fuel

      • Linda Baine McGown, John O’M. Bockris

      Pages 125-139

   7. Household Energy from the Sun

      • Linda Baine McGown, John O’M. Bockris

      Pages 141-151

   8. Transport and Industry Run on Electricity and Hydrogen

      • Linda Baine McGown, John O’M. Bockris

      Pages 153-167

   9. Tides, Geothermal Heat, and the Big Winds

      • Linda Baine McGown, John O’M. Bockris

      Pages 169-191

   10. Energy Storage and Transmission

       • Linda Baine McGown, John O’M. Bockris

       Pages 193-200

4. The Hydrogen Economy

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 201-204

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   2. Methods of Mass-Producing Hydrogen

      • Linda Baine McGown, John O’M. Bockris

      Pages 205-214

   3. The Storage of Abundant Clean Energy

      • Linda Baine McGown, John O’M. Bockris

      Pages 215-221

The Three Mile Island accident, the periodic occurrence of long gas lines until sufficient price increases are achieved, our dependence on foreign powers for a large fraction of our energy supply, and continual controversy in our government and concerned public groups all point to the real pre­ sence of an energy crisis. Even the government has finally publicly acknow­ ledged the fact that our present fuel sources will run out soon enough to be of concern to us now. This knowledge should raise many questions in the minds of our citizens. When will our sources run out, or at least become too expensive to afford? What could replace them, and which alternatives are best? When we hear about these matters in the news media, we get many contradictory opinions, mainly concerning coal and nuclear energy. Most of us realize that the reintroduction of coal on a massive scale would give rise to considerable pollution difficulties. Many people are also waking to an awareness of the dangers of nuclear reactors. When we turn to scientists for answers, we find that each one seems to advise us that a single path to new energy sources is the best-of course, each scientist tends to advise his own path.

• Natural gas
• electricity
• energy
• energy storage
• fuel cell
• geothermal energy
• growth
• hydrogen
• media
• photovoltaics
• solar energy
• solar radiation
• wind
• wind energy

• California State University, Long Beach, USA

  Linda Baine McGown

• Texas A & M, College Station, USA

  John O’M. Bockris

Policies and ethics