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uk.sci.weather (UK Weather) (uk.sci.weather) For the discussion of daily weather events, chiefly affecting the UK and adjacent parts of Europe, both past and predicted. The discussion is open to all, but contributions on a practical scientific level are encouraged. |
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#1
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I suspect several people here will already be familiar with this, but
I came across a newish book this week entitled 'Sustainable Energy - without the hot air' by David MacKay. (It's actually available for free as a (large!) PDF download from www.withoutthehotair.com , but the properly printed book is obviously a nicer object, although inevitably it costs!) To give you a flavour, the preface of this book starts off: 'I'm concerned about cutting UK emissions of twaddle - twaddle about sustainable energy. Everyone says getting off fossil fuels is important, and we're all encouraged to 'make a difference', but many of the things that allegedly make a difference don't add up.' In other words, this is a (highly lucid) attempt at a constructive critique of alternative energy options, which aims to be as scientific/objective as it's possible to be and is suitably back up by a considerable body of explanations and references, while somehow managing to remain pretty readable. No mean achievement! In case you think I've forgotten that this is usw, my reason for mentioning this is as follows: I asked here a year or two back whether anyone was aware of a similar sort of book in relation to GW/AGW as a topic, ie something that doesn't start out from a flagrantly pro or anti stance but tries to present and explain the data and the science that is available as objectively and in as much useful detail as possible, including credible evidence that might be contrarian to a particular point of view. But there didn't seem to be a book at that time that anyone could recommend. Has the situation changed at all? John Dann www.weatherstations.co.uk |
#2
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In message , John Dann
writes I suspect several people here will already be familiar with this, but I came across a newish book this week entitled 'Sustainable Energy - without the hot air' by David MacKay. (It's actually available for free as a (large!) PDF download from www.withoutthehotair.com , but the properly printed book is obviously a nicer object, although inevitably it costs!) Try http://www.withouthotair.com -- Stewart Robert Hinsley |
#3
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On May 23, 11:03*am, John Dann wrote:
I suspect several people here will already be familiar with this, but I came across a newish book this week entitled 'Sustainable Energy - without the hot air' by David MacKay. (It's actually available for free as a (large!) PDF download from www.withoutthehotair.com, but the properly printed book is obviously a nicer object, although inevitably it costs!) To give you a flavour, the preface of this book starts off: 'I'm concerned about cutting UK emissions of twaddle - twaddle about sustainable energy. Everyone says getting off fossil fuels is important, and we're all encouraged to 'make a difference', but many of the things that allegedly make a difference don't add up.' In other words, this is a (highly lucid) attempt at a constructive critique of alternative energy options, which aims to be as scientific/objective as it's possible to be and is suitably back up by a considerable body of explanations and references, while somehow managing to remain pretty readable. No mean achievement! In case you think I've forgotten that this is usw, my reason for mentioning this is as follows: I asked here a year or two back whether anyone was aware of a similar sort of book in relation to GW/AGW as a topic, ie something that doesn't start out from a flagrantly pro or anti stance but tries to present and explain the data and the science that is available as objectively and in as much useful detail as possible, including credible evidence that might be contrarian to a particular point of view. But there didn't seem to be a book at that time that anyone could recommend. Has the situation changed at all? John Dannwww.weatherstations.co.uk I'll have a look at http://www.withoutthehotair.com but anything that I personally do will have little effect. We only have one car but I am living in the town with the largest proportion of three car households in the country! The entire carbon consumption of the UK is less than the amount by which the USA has increased over the last ten years. In the same time China has caught up with the USA. so even if we in the UK stopped all fossil fuel burning it would have virtually no effect on global CO2 production. I think I can safely say that there are no books which do not come down one way or other regarding the GW debate. Even if such a book were written - I've studied global warming for ten years and can't decide if its happening, far less it it is due to man's activities - is hardly going to be bought even is someone is foolish enough to publish it. I am afraid you have to make a choice between books by scientists who see the dangers of AGW such as: Sir John Houghton "Global Warming, the Complete Briefing" and Mark Maslin "Global Warming - a Very Short Introduction" or books by politicians and statisticians (could there be anything worse) who try to argue them away: Sir Nigel Lawson "An Appeal to Reason: a Cool Look at Global Warming" and Bjorn Lomborg (Danish, not from the UK like the others, hence the misspelling of sceptical) "The Skeptical Environmentalist". There is also a proAGW book from list he http://www.realclimate.org/index.php.../01/our-books/ and a scientific antiAGW book he http://www.drroyspencer.com/climate-confusion/ . If you click on the link to Amazon you will get more of the same, but they do tend to show that they come from the stable of right wing Americans. Dr Roy Spencer, the author of "Climate Confusion" believes in Intelligent Design! (Creationism to you and me.) I recommend one of the first books I mentioned: Mark Maslin's "Global Warming: A Very Short Introduction". It deals with the science and the politics from an objective perspective, and it's cheap £6.99 :-). HTH, Cheers, Alastair. |
#4
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On Sat, 23 May 2009 13:01:49 +0100, Stewart Robert Hinsley
wrote: Try http://www.withouthotair.com Oops yes sorry - the domain name is obviously subtly different from the book title. JGD |
#5
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On Sat, 23 May 2009 13:26:35 +0100, John Dann
wrote: On Sat, 23 May 2009 13:01:49 +0100, Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote: Try http://www.withouthotair.com Oops yes sorry - the domain name is obviously subtly different from the book title. I think I've fixed the original (incorrect) link so that now works correctly too. Someone else might make the same mistake as I did. JGD |
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