Showing posts with label powering the dream. Show all posts
Showing posts with label powering the dream. Show all posts
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Powering The Dream The History and Promise of Green Technology by Alexis Madrigal
Powering The Dream The History and Promise of Green Technology by Alexis Madrigal
This is a history of alternative energy technology. It is a story of failure as much as it is a story of success. We learn that the ideas behind green technology are not new. There are many historical examples of early green technology in this book. For example, an attempt to build a 1 megawatt wind turbine was done in 1951. We also learn that many of the failures are not about the technology. It is as much about politics, philosophy, and business practices whether or not a new technology fails. The first battery operated cars hd horrible customer service and maintenance.
Alex Madrigal also compares other energy sources to renewables. Most notably he describes how the nuclear industry created a view that it was our future. We get a sense that history repeats itself with different energy sources being touted at different points in recent history. The historical examples are not what you might expect.
We learn that there were solar water heaters in 1930s, solar homes in the 1950s, wind energy was used in the American West to pump water, there was a wave energy demonstration plant in 1906 in San Francisco, compressed air was considered as an alternative to electricity as a way to store energy, and that historically green energy was part of a number of philosophical movements like transcendentalism. This is a very different picture than what is presented in the mainstream press.
In this book, green energy is as much a state of mind as a technology. For example, Google has a program called RE
We learn that only after many tries did wind become a viable renwable energy source, and that Luz solar concentrating power went through a variety of different companies selling the same technology with slight improvements over time.
The black and white photographs in the book are quite interesting. There are pictures of the first solar hot water heaters, first 1 megawatt wind generators, articles about wave generators from 1906, and pictures of other energy technnology.
This is an excellent book both from the viewpoint of a history of technology, and as a review of the philosophies underpinning renewable energy. I especially liked the first book on renewable energies title, The Paradise Within The Reach of All Men, Without Labour, by Powers of Nature, and Machinery An Address to All Men by John Etzler written in the 1830s, which described early forms of wind, wave, and solar power. It reminded me of Lewis Mumford's ideal of a "technic civilization" built on wind and wave power.
Alexis Madrigal is a senior editor for the Atlantic. There is a blog which is related to this book on the history of renewable energy. http://www.greentechhistory.com/
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Daily Thoughts 4/6/2011 (Swann Galleries, Powering The Dream)
Daily Thoughts 4/6/2011
This morning, I read some more of Powering The Dream. The author describes the failure of the first electric cars in the 1890s was a result of poor customer service and maintenance. He also describes how people were using solar hot water heaters in the 1950s in Florida and California. I find it fairly interesting. A lot of what we call renewable energy is not that new.
Today has been fairly quiet. I updated the Twitter account, entered some more surveys, and checked the displays. I also made some calls and emails for our Writers Networking Event on April 14, 2011.
I took some time to go through the gifts and separate out some books for the book sale. We got a fairly large donation of childrens books today.
We also opened the computer lab so people could search for jobs today. Several people came in to look for jobs on the internet. Part of this includes making sure they have an email account, reminding them to get a flash drive so they can upload resumes, and showing people how to search job sites.
This is a 3D Catalog of the contents of the auction from the Swann Gallery which is tomorrow April 7, 2011 at 10:30 a.m. It was very interesting at the preview on April 5, 2011 with the New York Library Club and the New York Librarians Meetup. http://www.swanngalleries.com/3dcat/2242/ I will be writing a full description shortly.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Daily Thoughts 4/4/2011 (Powering The Dream, Ebooks, Metatropolis)
Daily Thoughts 4/4/2011
The trainer from Sony came in to show the staff how to use the Sony reader devices. It was interesting. We spent some time going over Overdrive which is our provider of ebooks as well as the features of the Sony device like e-ink display technology. We have to set up some of our terminals so we can download books onto the Sony reader which are free like the free books from Harlequin, the Baen Free Library, a few creative commons titles, and other books. This should supplment our already large selection of books. Overdrive is partnered with Project Gutenberg and has over 10,000 titles added from their collection of ebooks to Overdrive. Our library is one of the 30 libraries which received the Sony grant for ereaders.
I checked the displays, updated the Twitter account, and checked on the surveys. We did not get any surveys so far today. It is slowing down a bit. I think we have some excellent information to work with from the surveys.
The book, Powering The Dream The History and Promise of Green Technology by Alexis Madrigal came in for me to read. I also read Richard Stark's Parker The Outfit Adapted and Illustrated by Darwyn Cooke on the train to work this morning. It is a high octane mix of thievery, violence, and crime. The story is very hard boiled noire with heists, getaways, and gun play. It was a lot of fun to read. The story was very fast paced.
I also called Janway http://www.janway.com/ to ask about a variety of products which would have our library logo printed on them. Things like pens, mugs, flash drives, and bookmarks.
I am looking at the program for the Westchester Library Annual Conference on May 13, 2011. The keynote speaker is Seth Godin. I am interested in going to a few of the sessions, Up To The Challenge: Libraries Successfully Serving Job Seekers led by Rebecca Mazin, and The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Book Discussions led by Barbara Wenglin.
On the weekend I finished reading The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss and The Executioness by Paolo Bacigalupi. I have several piles of books that I have to get around to reviewing.
On the train home I read some of Powering The Dream. It sparks the imagination of what might have been. The author describes wave energy machines being investigated in 1906, pneumatic tubes used to send mail throughout Paris in 1909, and windmills on the prairies of the United States during the 1870s.
I also finished reading the first story in the book Metatropolis. It is called In The Forests of the Night by Jay Lake. The main character is named Tygre Tygre. It is about a future green city.
Web Bits
The Library Thing E-- A special edition ebook reader.
http://www.librarything.com/blogs/librarything/2011/04/introducing-the-librarything-e-an-ereader-from-librarything/
Santa Cruz Keeps Branches Open by Replacing Staff with Volunteers
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/889931-264/santa_cruz_keeps_branches_open.html.cspI sometimes wonder what people are thinking. Volunteers generally do not do the same kind of job as paid workers.
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