Out of Gas PA (Goodstein)

by Goodstein,David L.

• ISBN13: 9780393326475
• ISBN10: 0393326470
• Edition: 00
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-02-17
• Publisher: W W NORTON AND CO INC

Summary

Our rate of oil discovery has reached its peak and will never be exceeded; rather, it is certain to decline'”perhaps rapidly'”forever forward. Meanwhile, over the past century, we have developed lifestyles firmly rooted in the promise of an endless, cheap supply. In this book, David Goodstein, professor of physics at Caltech, explains the underlying scientific principles of the inevitable fossil fuel shortage we face. He outlines the drastic effects a fossil fuel shortage will bring down on us. And he shows that there is an important silver lining to the need to switch to other sources of energy, for when we have burned up all the available oil, the earth's climate will have moved toward a truly life-threatening state. With its easy-to-grasp explanations of the science behind every aspect of our most urgent environmental policy decisions, Out of Gas is a handbook for the future of civilization.

Table of Contents

Introduction	13	(8)
The Future	21	(20)
Energy Myths and a Brief History of Energy	41	(16)
Electricity and Radiant Energy	57	(20)
Heat Engines and Entropy	77	(22)
Technological Fixes	99	(18)
Envoy: The Future Revisited	117	(8)
Postscript	125	(8)
Notes	133	(4)
Annotated Bibliography	137	(2)
Acknowledgments	139	(2)
Index	141