Freeing Energy: How Innovators Are Using Local-scale Solar and Batteries to Disrupt the Global Energy Industry from the Outside In

Freeing Energy: How Innovators Are Using Local-scale Solar and Batteries to Disrupt the Global Energy Industry from the Outside In PDF

Author: Bill Nussey

Publisher:

Published: 2021-11-05

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 9781732544642

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The transition to clean energy is moving far too slowly. Trapped by a century of fossil fuel investments and politicians that struggle to plan beyond the next election, the "Big Grid" that powers our modern world is outdated and in dire need of an upgrade. Freeing Energy offers a new and faster path towards a clean energy future-one that is more reliable, more equitable, and cheaper. Just like personal computers eclipsed mainframes, millions of solar rooftops and small battery systems are challenging every assumption about our century-old, centralized electric grid. These small-scale "local energy" systems are deeply disruptive because they are based on fast-moving technologies, not fuels. Driven by a new generation of innovators and genuinely competitive markets, smaller systems are faster to build, easier to finance, cleaner to operate, and they create far more jobs than large-scale projects. Bill Nussey takes readers to mud huts in Africa, an off-grid farm in California, and a rural school in the mountains of Puerto Rico to uncover the underlying patterns of technology and the business model innovations of the local energy revolution. He shares stories and insights from some of the industry's brightest visionaries and from leaders of the most cutting-edge startups, bringing it all together into an actionable framework to help accelerate this transition. Freeing Energy is a deeply researched, actionable guide for anyone that cares about the future of energy-from startups, policymakers, investors, and utility leaders to the families and communities that want cleaner, cheaper energy today.

The Energy Switch

The Energy Switch PDF

Author: Peter Kelly-Detwiler

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-06-15

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 1633886670

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The energy industry is changing, and it’s far more than just solar panels. Electric vehicles look to overtake gasoline-powered cars within our lifetimes, wind farms are popping up in unlikely places, traders are transforming energy into a commodity, and supercomputers are crunching vast amounts of data in nanoseconds while helping to keep our energy grids secure from hackers. The way humans produce, distribute and consume power will be cleaner, cheaper, and infinitely more complex within the next decade. In The Energy Switch, leading energy industry expert Peter Kelly-Detwiler looks at all aspects of the transformation: how we got here, where we are going, and the implications for all of us in our daily lives. Kelly-Detwiler takes readers to the frontlines of the energy revolution. Meet Steve Collins, an executive from Commercial Development Corporation, the company that blew up two $570-million-dollar concrete cooling towers to create a staging ground for the new $70 billion U.S. offshore wind industry; Rob Threlkeld, a General Motors executive who convinced the auto giant to sign multiple 20-year renewable energy contracts worth hundreds of millions; Kevin McAlpin, a Texas homeowner who buys the power for his home on the electricity spot market – where prices can soar from less than one cent a kilowatthour to $9.00 over the course of a single day; Dr. Kristin Persson, who oversees a supercomputer that can process data at 30 quadrillion calculations per second, in the quest for better renewable energy and battery technologies; and John Davis, a Texas rancher who can keep his land intact, with help from the royalty payments from seven turbines spinning on his range. Energy creation and distribution has driven society’s progress for centuries. Today, people are increasingly aware that it is imperative that humans move towards a cleaner, digitized, and democratized energy economy. The Energy Switch is about that multi-trillion dollar transformation, told from the perspective of those leading us to that bright future.

Future of solar photovoltaic

Future of solar photovoltaic PDF

Author: International Renewable Energy Agency IRENA

Publisher: International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)

Published: 2019-11-01

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 9292601989

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This study presents options to fully unlock the world’s vast solar PV potential over the period until 2050. It builds on IRENA’s global roadmap to scale up renewables and meet climate goals.

Electrify

Electrify PDF

Author: Saul Griffith

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2021-10-12

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 0262046237

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An optimistic--but realistic and feasible--action plan for fighting climate change while creating new jobs and a healthier environment: electrify everything. Climate change is a planetary emergency. We have to do something now—but what? Saul Griffith has a plan. In Electrify, Griffith lays out a detailed blueprint—optimistic but feasible—for fighting climate change while creating millions of new jobs and a healthier environment. Griffith’s plan can be summed up simply: electrify everything. He explains exactly what it would take to transform our infrastructure, update our grid, and adapt our households to make this possible. Billionaires may contemplate escaping our worn-out planet on a private rocket ship to Mars, but the rest of us, Griffith says, will stay and fight for the future. Griffith, an engineer and inventor, calls for grid neutrality, ensuring that households, businesses, and utilities operate as equals; we will have to rewrite regulations that were created for a fossil-fueled world, mobilize industry as we did in World War II, and offer low-interest “climate loans.” Griffith’s plan doesn’t rely on big, not-yet-invented innovations, but on thousands of little inventions and cost reductions. We can still have our cars and our houses—but the cars will be electric and solar panels will cover our roofs. For a world trying to bounce back from a pandemic and economic crisis, there is no other project that would create as many jobs—up to twenty-five million, according to one economic analysis. Is this politically possible? We can change politics along with everything else.

The Powerhouse

The Powerhouse PDF

Author: Steve Levine

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2015-02-05

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0698170245

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A Soul of a New Machine for our time, a gripping account of invention, commerce, and duplicity in the age of technology A worldwide race is on to perfect the next engine of economic growth, the advanced lithium-ion battery. It will power the electric car, relieve global warming, and catapult the winner into a new era of economic and political mastery. Can the United States win? Steve LeVine was granted unprecedented access to a secret federal laboratory outside Chicago, where a group of geniuses is trying to solve this next monumental task of physics. But these scientists— almost all foreign born—are not alone. With so much at stake, researchers in Japan, South Korea, and China are in the same pursuit. The drama intensifies when a Silicon Valley start-up licenses the federal laboratory’s signature invention with the aim of a blockbuster sale to the world’s biggest carmakers. The Powerhouse is a real-time, two-year thrilling account of big invention, big commercialization, and big deception. It exposes the layers of competition and ambition, aspiration and disappointment behind this great turning point in the history of technology.

Freeing Energy: How Innovators Are Using Local-scale Solar and Batteries to Disrupt the Global Energy Industry from the Outside In

Freeing Energy: How Innovators Are Using Local-scale Solar and Batteries to Disrupt the Global Energy Industry from the Outside In PDF

Author: Bill Nussey

Publisher: Mountain Ambler Publishing

Published: 2021-11-05

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 9781732544635

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The transition to clean energy is moving far too slowly. Trapped by a century of fossil fuel investments and politicians that struggle to plan beyond the next election, the "Big Grid" that powers our modern world is outdated and in dire need of an upgrade. Freeing Energy offers a new and faster path towards a clean energy future-one that is more reliable, more equitable, and cheaper. Just like personal computers eclipsed mainframes, millions of solar rooftops and small battery systems are challenging every assumption about our century-old, centralized electric grid. These small-scale "local energy" systems are deeply disruptive because they are based on fast-moving technologies, not fuels. Driven by a new generation of innovators and genuinely competitive markets, smaller systems are faster to build, easier to finance, cleaner to operate, and they create far more jobs than large-scale projects. Bill Nussey takes readers to mud huts in Africa, an off-grid farm in California, and a rural school in the mountains of Puerto Rico to uncover the underlying patterns of technology and the business model innovations of the local energy revolution. He shares stories and insights from some of the industry's brightest visionaries and from leaders of the most cutting-edge startups, bringing it all together into an actionable framework to help accelerate this transition. Freeing Energy is a deeply researched, actionable guide for anyone that cares about the future of energy-from startups, policymakers, investors, and utility leaders to the families and communities that want cleaner, cheaper energy today.

How Solar Energy Became Cheap

How Solar Energy Became Cheap PDF

Author: Gregory F. Nemet

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-05-20

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 0429643853

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Solar energy is a substantial global industry, one that has generated trade disputes among superpowers, threatened the solvency of large energy companies, and prompted serious reconsideration of electric utility regulation rooted in the 1930s. One of the biggest payoffs from solar’s success is not the clean inexpensive electricity it can produce, but the lessons it provides for innovation in other technologies needed to address climate change. Despite the large literature on solar, including analyses of increasingly detailed datasets, the question as to how solar became inexpensive and why it took so long still remains unanswered. Drawing on developments in the US, Japan, Germany, Australia, and China, this book provides a truly comprehensive and international explanation for how solar has become inexpensive. Understanding the reasons for solar’s success enables us to take full advantage of solar’s potential. It can also teach us how to support other low-carbon technologies with analogous properties, including small modular nuclear reactors and direct air capture. However, the urgency of addressing climate change means that a key challenge in applying the solar model is in finding ways to speed up innovation. Offering suggestions and policy recommendations for accelerated innovation is another key contribution of this book. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of energy technology and innovation, climate change and energy analysis and policy, as well as practitioners and policymakers working in the existing and emerging energy industries.

Lighting the World

Lighting the World PDF

Author: Jim Rogers

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2015-08-25

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 146687936X

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1.2 billion people on Earth still don't have electricity. Even where cell phones are now common, like sub-Saharan Africa and parts of India, villagers still walk miles to charge them. But new large-scale, sustainable solutions will not only usher in a new era of light, but be an important first step in lifting people from poverty and putting them on a road of sustainable economic development. Also, a unique, transforming opportunity for Western thinkers and practitioners will be created. These areas have largely skipped the analog stage of power development, and have moved straight from the middle ages to the digital age. They are not encumbered by existing infrastructure, dependence on fossil fuels, or too many outdated laws and regulations. An ideal innovation incubator, the developing world might just be the best way to make progress on our own energy issues at home. Jim Rogers is leading a grand collaborative effort to bring sustainable, clean electrical power to everyone who lacks it. This reverse engineering, he contends, could solve the energy crises of America and Europe, while also making the world a cleaner, smarter place. But it won't be easy. In Lighting the World, Rogers details the bold thinking, international cooperation, and political will required to illuminate the future for everyone.

Your Mountain Is Waiting

Your Mountain Is Waiting PDF

Author: Bill Nussey

Publisher: Mountain Ambler Publishing

Published: 2019-02-22

Total Pages: 116

ISBN-13: 9781732544604

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The world is full of books with catchy, earnest prescriptions on creating a happier and more successful life. However, most of these merely fly over a landscape of positive habits, rarely diving into the challenges or the reasoning behind them. Your Mountain Is Waiting is different. It's easy-to-read, clich -free and filled with relatable stories and practical advice. It goes beyond WHAT to do and explains WHY and HOW. It's about finding your purpose, taking the initiative, having fun, building lasting friendships, bouncing back from failure, and making the most of your life. If you are searching for your mission in life or seeking a success more rewarding than money or titles, Your Mountain Is Waiting is the book for you. The book was written for Nussey's sons who were graduating from high school and college. But it's just as valuable for anyone of any age, from young professionals to retirees, that want to find meaning and fulfillment in their lives. It is the perfect graduation gift. Excerpts from the book: Missions are like compasses. They set your direction and help you find your way when the trail ahead isn't clear. Author Laurence J. Peter said, "If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else." Stuff happens. Situations change. The trails of life are full of deep holes, sharp sticks and dead ends. The point is that a small amount of preparation can help you avoid huge hassles. So, if you want to be a bit more prepared for the unexpected, here are a few tips that have worked for me... Adventures change us. Acquaintances become lifelong friends. Courage eclipses fear. Perseverance conquers apathy. If even for just a little while, adventures help us become the best versions of ourselves. Making the world a better place is the rent payment for your visit here on planet earth One of the great lessons I've learned about failure comes from cats. Have you ever seen a cat go running across a wooden floor, lose its footing, and crash into a wall? The great thing about cats is that they get right back up, shake it off, and look at you as if to say, "Yeah, I meant to do that." We should all fail with that much confidence.