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Loading... The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future (2016)by Gretchen Bakke
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Билл Гейтс особо отметил эту книгу в своем ежегодном списке лучшей литературы. Кому, как не ему, знать, что компьютер всего лишь инструмент, а работает именно электричество. За привычными нам проводами и мачтами ЛЭП скрывается огромное хозяйство, величайшее достижение инженерной мысли ХХ века, о сложности и интересности которого мы, как правило, не догадываемся. Так, например, оказывается, что переход на альтернативные источники энергии невозможен без серьезного пересмотра существующих электросетей: чем больше инвестиций идет в «зеленую» энергетику, тем более хрупкими становятся сети. Рассчитанные на предсказуемую подачу тока из генерирующих станций, они мало пригодны к скачкообразным «вбросам» от солнечных панелей и ветряков. В отсутствие технологии хранения энергии ответом может стать использование аккумуляторов электромобилей, которые «работают» лишь несколько часов в день. Однако электроэнергия — не только работа, но и информация: анализируя ваше потребление, компании могут делать выводы о том, чем вы занимаетесь дома. This topic deserves a vastly better book than this; not sure if the problem is the author or the publishers, but this book manages to be insultingly simplified (written for people who don't know what a volt measures -- but then the author does a pretty bad job of analogizing to other systems), lacking in any real content, etc. It's also largely out of date already. The high point was probably the early history of power companies (private plant vs. centralized systems), but even this wasn't told very well. There are worthwhile stories to tell about centralized vs. distributed generation, the history of the electrical grid, the problems of intermittency and lack of systems of storage, etc., but this isn't the book to do it. no reviews | add a review
"The grid is an accident of history and of culture, in no way intrinsic to how we produce, deliver and consume electrical power. Yet this is the system the United States ended up with, a jerry-built structure now so rickety and near collapse that a strong wind or a hot day can bring it to a grinding halt. The grid is now under threat from a new source: renewable and variable energy, which puts stress on its logics as much as its components. In entertaining, perceptive, and deeply researched fashion, cultural anthropologist Gretchen Bakke uses the history of an increasingly outdated infrastructure to show how the United States has gone from seemingly infinite technological prowess to a land of structural instability. She brings humor and a bright eye to contemporary solutions and to the often surprising ways in which these succeed or fail. And the consequences of failure are significant. Our national electrical grid grew during an era when monopoly, centralization and standardization meant strength. Yet as we've increasingly become a nation that caters to local needs, and as a plethora of new, renewable energy sources comes on line, our massive system is dangerously out of step. Charting the history of our electrical grid, Bakke helps us see what we all take for granted, shows it as central to our culture and identity as a people, and reveals it to be the linchpin in our aspirations for a clean energy future"-- No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)333.793Social sciences Economics Economics of land & energy Land, recreational and wilderness areas, energy Energy Secondary forms of energyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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