A new book on energy

An extremely enlightening book on energy and technology called “The Bottomless Well” was published earlier this year (2005). It was written by a physicist, Mark P. Mills, and Peter Huber, a specialist on technology, science and the law.

Graphs and charts are used liberally throughout the book and are very informative and wide-ranging. The concentration of power in machines, for example, has gone from less than 1 kilowatt per cubic meter (the Newcomen steam engine, 1712) to more than 10,000 kilowatts per cubic meter in the modern laser. Meanwhile the bulk of the machine went from monster down to small or moderate. Energy density thus went up by 100,000 to 1,000,000 or more.

Electricity, it seems, is even going to replace the drive shaft and most of the gears of the automobile. The hybrid car is just the beginning. There’s a lot more but I haven’t finished the book yet.

http://www.thelittlegreenie.com