000			03208nam a2200409 i 4500
001			OTLid0000980
003			MnU
005			20241120064024.0
006			m o d s
007			cr
008			210322s2021 mnu o 0 0 eng d
020			_a9780578867175
040			_aMnU _beng _cMnU
050		4	_aQH301
050		4	_aQE1
050		4	_aQC21.3
245	0	0	_aEnergy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet _cThomas Murphy
264		2	_aMinneapolis, MN _bOpen Textbook Library
264		1	_aOakland, California _beScholarship _c[2021]
264		4	_c©2021.
300			_a1 online resource
336			_atext _btxt _2rdacontent
337			_acomputer _bc _2rdamedia
338			_aonline resource _bcr _2rdacarrier
490	0		_aOpen textbook library.
505	0		_aI. Setting the Stage: Growth and Limitations -- II. Energy and Fossil Fuels -- III. Alternative Energy -- IV. Going Forward
520	0		_aWhere is humanity going? How realistic is a future of fusion and space colonies? What constraints are imposed by physics, by resource availability, and by human psychology? Are default expectations grounded in reality? This textbook, written for a general-education audience, aims to address these questions without either the hype or the indifference typical of many books. The message throughout is that humanity faces a broad sweep of foundational problems as we inevitably transition away from fossil fuels and confront planetary limits in a host of unprecedented ways—a shift whose scale and probable rapidity offers little historical guidance. Salvaging a decent future requires keen awareness, quantitative assessment, deliberate preventive action, and—above all—recognition that prevailing assumptions about human identity and destiny have been cruelly misshapen by the profoundly unsustainable trajectory of the last 150 years. The goal is to shake off unfounded and unexamined expectations, while elucidating the relevant physics and encouraging greater facility in quantitative reasoning. After addressing limits to growth, population dynamics, uncooperative space environments, and the current fossil underpinnings of modern civilization, various sources of alternative energy are considered in detail— assessing how they stack up against each other, and which show the greatest potential. Following this is an exploration of systemic human impediments to effective and timely responses, capped by guidelines for individual adaptations resulting in reduced energy and material demands on the planet’s groaning capacity. Appendices provide refreshers on math and chemistry, as well as supplementary material of potential interest relating to cosmology, electric transportation, and an evolutionary perspective on humanity’s place in nature.
542	1		_fAttribution-NonCommercial
546			_aIn English.
588	0		_aDescription based on online resource
650		0	_aScience _vTextbooks
650		0	_aEarth Sciences _vTextbooks
650		0	_aPhysics _vTextbooks
700	1		_aMurphy, Thomas W. _eauthor
710	2		_aOpen Textbook Library _edistributor
856	4	0	_uhttps://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/980 _zAccess online version
999			_c39178 _d39178