Luis posted:

What do the fundamental limits of physics say about 
sustainable energy?
The British Isles, we often hear, have 'huge' renewable 
resources -
but we need to know how this 'huge' source compares with 
another 'huge':
our huge power consumption. The public discussion of energy 
policy needs
numbers, not adjectives.

Assuming no economic constraints, assuming we cover the 
country with
windmills and the coast with wave-machines, every roof with 
solar
panels and every field with energy crops, could Britain get 
enough power
from renewables to continue with our current consumption? "
_________________

The 4 page executive summary is well worth reading by anyone 
with any interest at all in energy futures. While it is UK 
biased the conclusions translate easily enough to other 
countries.

        http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/sustainable/book/tex/synopsis.pdf

13 MB PDF :-)

    http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/sustainable/book/tex/cft.pdf

Of interest may be the 362 web links from the book here

        http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/sustainable/book/tex/cft.url.html


Worth noting is:

David MacKay is Professor of Natural Philosophy in the 
Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge.




        R


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