How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster PDF Author: Bill Gates
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0385546149
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster PDF Author: Bill Gates
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0385546149
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 201

Get Book Here

Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

Energy and Civilization

Energy and Civilization PDF Author: Vaclav Smil
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262536161
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 564

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Book Description
A comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society throughout history, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel–driven civilization. "I wait for new Smil books the way some people wait for the next 'Star Wars' movie. In his latest book, Energy and Civilization: A History, he goes deep and broad to explain how innovations in humans' ability to turn energy into heat, light, and motion have been a driving force behind our cultural and economic progress over the past 10,000 years. —Bill Gates, Gates Notes, Best Books of the Year Energy is the only universal currency; it is necessary for getting anything done. The conversion of energy on Earth ranges from terra-forming forces of plate tectonics to cumulative erosive effects of raindrops. Life on Earth depends on the photosynthetic conversion of solar energy into plant biomass. Humans have come to rely on many more energy flows—ranging from fossil fuels to photovoltaic generation of electricity—for their civilized existence. In this monumental history, Vaclav Smil provides a comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel–driven civilization. Humans are the only species that can systematically harness energies outside their bodies, using the power of their intellect and an enormous variety of artifacts—from the simplest tools to internal combustion engines and nuclear reactors. The epochal transition to fossil fuels affected everything: agriculture, industry, transportation, weapons, communication, economics, urbanization, quality of life, politics, and the environment. Smil describes humanity's energy eras in panoramic and interdisciplinary fashion, offering readers a magisterial overview. This book is an extensively updated and expanded version of Smil's Energy in World History (1994). Smil has incorporated an enormous amount of new material, reflecting the dramatic developments in energy studies over the last two decades and his own research over that time.

Understanding Your Utility Bill

Understanding Your Utility Bill PDF Author: United States. Federal Energy Administration
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electric utilities
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Book Description


How to Prevent the Next Pandemic

How to Prevent the Next Pandemic PDF Author: Bill Gates
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0593534492
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
Governments, businesses, and individuals around the world are thinking about what happens after the COVID-19 pandemic. Can we hope to not only ward off another COVID-like disaster but also eliminate all respiratory diseases, including the flu? Bill Gates, one of our greatest and most effective thinkers and activists, believes the answer is yes. The author of the #1 New York Times best seller How to Avoid a Climate Disaster lays out clearly and convincingly what the world should have learned from COVID-19 and what all of us can do to ward off another catastrophe like it. Relying on the shared knowledge of the world’s foremost experts and on his own experience of combating fatal diseases through the Gates Foundation, Gates first helps us understand the science of infectious diseases. Then he shows us how the nations of the world, working in conjunction with one another and with the private sector, how we can prevent a new pandemic from killing millions of people and devastating the global economy. Here is a clarion call—strong, comprehensive, and of the gravest importance.

Electrify

Electrify PDF Author: Saul Griffith
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262046237
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
An optimistic--but realistic and feasible--action plan for fighting climate change while creating new jobs and a healthier environment: electrify everything. Climate change is a planetary emergency. We have to do something now—but what? Saul Griffith has a plan. In Electrify, Griffith lays out a detailed blueprint—optimistic but feasible—for fighting climate change while creating millions of new jobs and a healthier environment. Griffith’s plan can be summed up simply: electrify everything. He explains exactly what it would take to transform our infrastructure, update our grid, and adapt our households to make this possible. Billionaires may contemplate escaping our worn-out planet on a private rocket ship to Mars, but the rest of us, Griffith says, will stay and fight for the future. Griffith, an engineer and inventor, calls for grid neutrality, ensuring that households, businesses, and utilities operate as equals; we will have to rewrite regulations that were created for a fossil-fueled world, mobilize industry as we did in World War II, and offer low-interest “climate loans.” Griffith’s plan doesn’t rely on big, not-yet-invented innovations, but on thousands of little inventions and cost reductions. We can still have our cars and our houses—but the cars will be electric and solar panels will cover our roofs. For a world trying to bounce back from a pandemic and economic crisis, there is no other project that would create as many jobs—up to twenty-five million, according to one economic analysis. Is this politically possible? We can change politics along with everything else.

Draft Energy Bill

Draft Energy Bill PDF Author: Great Britain: Department of Energy and Climate Change
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780101836227
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
The Government is committed to moving to a secure, safe, affordable and low-carbon energy system. This will mean achieving its climate change and renewables targets, including a 34 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020 (relative to 1990); at least an 80 per cent reduction by 2050; and by 2020 ensuring that 15 per cent of energy comes from renewable sources. This transition will require major investment in modern technologies: to renovate buildings; to provide for the electrification of much of our heating, industry and transport; and to move to cleaner power generation. It will also require major changes in the way energy is used by individuals, industry and the public sector. At the core of the Bill is the need to ensure that, as older power plants are taken offline and electricity demand continues to increase, the UK remains able to generate enough energy to meet its needs. The Energy Bill will: implement the electricity market reforms set out in the white paper 'Planning our electric future ... ' (Cm. 8099, ISBN 9780101809924); clarify the role of the regulator, Ofgem; establish an Office for Nuclear Regulation; make changes to the offshore transmission regulatory framework; and make provisions for the potential sale of Government Pipeline and Storage System. This document contains a description of the Bill's aims, the draft Bill and explanatory notes, together with a summary impact assessment.

Draft Energy Bill

Draft Energy Bill PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Energy and Climate Change Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215047281
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 90

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Book Description
In the biggest shake-up of the electricity market since privatisation, the Energy Bill will introduce a new system of long-term contracts to give power companies a guaranteed price for the low-carbon electricity they produce. This is intended to reduce the risk of investment in projects with high up-front capital costs, such as nuclear reactors and offshore wind farms. Initial consultation last year led investors to believe that the "Contracts for Difference" (CfD) would be guaranteed by the State - therefore lowering the cost of capital. But the Treasury has apparently intervened to ensure that the contracts are not government guaranteed. The new model for contracts will spread the liability across various energy companies instead; raising concerns that the plans are now too complex and possibly not legally enforceable. The MPs are calling on the Government to use its AAA-credit rating to underwrite the new contracts in order to keep the costs of energy investment down for consumers. The Committee heard that the spending cap set by the Treasury - which limits the green levies that can be passed on to consumers in energy bills - could introduce an "unacceptable" level of risk to companies who are looking to build new wind, solar, wave or tidal power plants, creating uncertainty amongst investors about which projects will receive support. This is already having an impact of investment decisions and could paradoxically push-up energy costs for consumers. The Committee says that the Government must come up with a stronger contract design before the Bill is expected to be introduced to Parliament in the autumn

Public Works for Water and Power Development and Energy Research Appropriation Bill, 1978

Public Works for Water and Power Development and Energy Research Appropriation Bill, 1978 PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Public Works
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Power resources
Languages : en
Pages : 1248

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Book Description


Average Electric Bills. 1939, Average Typical Monthly Bills as of January 1, 1939, to Residential, Commercial, and Industrial Consumers by States and Goegraphic Divisions, and by Community Groups for Publicly and Privatly Owned Utilities

Average Electric Bills. 1939, Average Typical Monthly Bills as of January 1, 1939, to Residential, Commercial, and Industrial Consumers by States and Goegraphic Divisions, and by Community Groups for Publicly and Privatly Owned Utilities PDF Author: United States Fedral power commission
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Book Description


Saving Money by Understanding Demand Charges on Your Electric Bill

Saving Money by Understanding Demand Charges on Your Electric Bill PDF Author: Dave Dieziger
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electric Utilities
Languages : en
Pages : 8

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Book Description