The Burning Answer: A User's Guide to the Solar Revolution - Hardcover

Keith Barnham

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0297869639 ISBN 13: 9780297869634

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2014

Synopsis

Our civilisation faces a choice. We could be enjoying a sustainable lifestyle but we have chosen not to. In three generations we have consumed half the oil produced by photosynthesis over eight million generations. In two generations we have used half our uranium resources. With threats from global warming, oil depletion and nuclear disaster, we are running out of options. Solar power, as Keith Barnham explains, is the solution.

In THE BURNING ANSWER he uncovers the connections between physics and politics that have resulted in our dependence on a high-carbon lifestyle, which only a solar revolution can now overcome. Einstein's famous equation E=mc2 led to the atomic bomb and the widespread use of nuclear energy; it has delayed a solar revolution in many countries. In a fascinating tour of recent scientific history, Keith Barnham reveals Einstein's other, less famous equation, the equation the world could have relied on.

Einstein's other equation has given us the laptop and mobile phone, and it also provides the basis for solar technology. Some countries have harnessed this for their energy needs, and it is not too late for us to do the same.

In this provocative, inspiring, passionately argued book, Keith Barnham outlines actions that any one and all of us can take to make an impact now and on future generations. THE BURNING ANSWER is a solar manifesto for the new climate-aware generation, and a must-read for climate-change sceptics.

About this title

About the Author

Keith Barnham is Emeritus Professor of Physics at Imperial College London. He started his research career in experimental particle physics working in research laboratories at CERN in Geneva and the University of California Berkeley. Mid-career he switched to researching solar energy and invented a solar cell with three times the efficiency of today's roof-top panels. He lives with his wife, the poet Claire Crowther, in Somerset.http://burninganswers.com

Review

One of the most exciting and genuinely hopeful books I've read in a long time -- Jonathon Porritt * RESURGENCE * A tour de force by a renowned solar physicist ... Buy it, read it and help us save the planet -- Jeremy Leggett, author of THE ENERGY OF NATIONS This is a book that every climate change denier and big oil executive should be forced to read before they go on TV to spout off about fracking and nuclear power and all the other crazy ways we have developed to power modern civilization. -- Stephen Hunt * STEPHENHUNT.net * The overwhelming impression I take away from The Burning Answer is one of a slowly building but completely unstoppable momentum behind the solar revolution. This makes it one of the most exciting and genuinely hopeful books I've read in a long time. -- Jonathan Porritt * RESURGENCE & ECOLOGIST * Keith Barnham does have something new to say: he cuts through the current morass of fossil-fuel and nuclear lobbyists' negative propaganda with a clear and original vision for solar power. It is a bold vision, a necessary one, and the world needs to be fired up about it. Keith Barnham is fanning a necessary flame. -- Peter Forbes * THE GUARDIAN * Barnham nails his colours to the mast from the off. ...the energy fizzes of the page, and any doubters of the merits of solar power, be they scientists, commentators or policy wonks, are given a swift left-hook. -- Nicola Davis * THE OBSERVER *

Edition details

• Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0297869639
• ISBN 13: 9780297869634
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400