In "Powering the Future," Nobel laureate Robert B. Laughlin
transports us two centuries into the future, when we've ceased to
use carbon from the ground--either because humans have banned
carbon burning or because fuel has simply run out. Boldly, Laughlin
predicts no earth-shattering transformations will have taken place.
Six generations from now, there will still be soccer moms, shopping
malls, and business trips. Firesides will still be snug and warm.
How will we do it? Not by discovering a magic bullet to slay our
energy problems, but through a slew of fascinating technologies,
drawing on wind, water, and fire. "Powering the Future" is an
objective yet optimistic tour through alternative fuel sources, set
in a world where we've burned every last drop of petroleum and
every last shovelful of coal.
The Predictable: "Fossil fuels will run out." The present flow
of crude oil out of the ground equals in one day the average flow
of the Mississippi River past New Orleans in thirteen minutes. If
you add the energy equivalents of gas and coal, it's thirty-six
minutes. At the present rate of consumption, we'll be out of fossil
fuels in two centuries' time. "We always choose the cheapest gas."
From the nineteenth-century consolidation of the oil business to
the California energy crisis of 2000-2001, the energy business has
shown, time and again, how low prices dominate market share. Market
forces--not green technology--will be the driver of energy
innovation in the next 200 years. "The laws of physics remain
fixed." Energy will still be conserved, degrade entropically with
use, and have to be disposed of as waste heat into outer space. How
much energy a fuel can pack away in a given space is fixed by
quantum mechanics--and if we want to keep flying jet planes, we
will need carbon-based fuels. The Potential: "Animal waste."If
dried and burned, the world's agricultural manure would supply
about one-third as much energy as all the coal we presently
consume. "Trash." The United States disposes of 88 million tons of
carbon in its trash per year. While the incineration of waste trash
is not enough to contribute meaningfully to the global demand for
energy, it will constrain fuel prices by providing a cheap supply
of carbon." ""Solar energy."The power used to light all the cities
around the world is only one-millionth of the total power of
sunlight pouring down on earth's daytime side. And the amount of
hydropump storage required to store the world's daily electrical
surge is equal to only eight times the volume of Lake Mead. PRAISE
FOR ROBERT B. LAUGHLIN "Perhaps the most brilliant theoretical
physicist since Richard Feynman"--George Chapline, Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory "Powerful but controversial."--
"Financial Times"" "" Laughlin's] company ... is inspirational."
--"New Scientist"
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