Earth The Sequel-- Fred Krupp-- Review

Earth The Sequel: The Race to Reinvent Energy And Stop Global Warming by Fred Krupp and Miriam Horn is a guide to renewable energy companies working on breakthrough technologies. Fred Krupp correctly states that unless there is a national competitive cap and trade system for carbon, renewable energy will not take off in this country in time to prevent global environmental disaster.

Each chapter in this book focuses on a specific type of renewable energy; solar, biofuels, ocean energy, "clean coal" (specifically carbon sequestration), geothermal energy, assorted energy sources, what can be done now, and the future.

In the chapter on solar, three types of solar power were discussed photovoltaic, thin film, and solar concentrating. The most interesting of these technologies to me is the solar tower. There was a brief overview of the "stirling engine", a type of engine often used with solar concentrating mirrors. Solar concentrating technology is an old technology that can use solar power to create utility scale energy.

This book is focused on new developments in alternative energy. Because this it skips the two already developed alternative energy sources, wind and hydropower. It would have been nice if there was some coverage of micro-hydro and distributed hydroelectric power. Oddly, the section on wind energy focused on wind energy kits and wind energy blimps. Basically, a blimp is raised on a tether with wind turbines attached. The tether is a cable which can take the current genterated at high altitudes and send it to the ground for storage.

I really enjoyed reading the section on ocean energy. It gave the complete history of the aquabuoy wave energy turbine, and a bit on the pelamis wave energy device. There was also a bit on underwater wave turbines similar to wind turbines. Ocean energy is one of the newest forms of energy and has not been exploited very much.

I thought the section on geothermal was quite limited. I think that the author correctly points out that not much funding is being put into developing new sources of geothermal energy.

The author did the best job of describing biofuels. He attacked ADM, Archer Daniels Midland for their focus on food (specifically corn) as a fuel. A lot of next generation biofuel companies were described, Verenium which makes cellulosic ethanol, Greenfuel Technologies which is working on algae biofuel, Amyris which is designing genetically engineered biojet fuel.

There was a discussion of miscellaneous technologies. Things like Waste Management's landfill gasification program, and using animal waste to create methanol. Also conservation was briefly covered.

The car was brought up in the last chapter. The author focused on the electric car. He mentions two developments that are interesting, the Tesla roadster all electric sports car, and the Volt, General Motor's planned hybrid electric car.

If you want a survey of new energy technology and ideas this book is for you. It lists many companies that are working on potential breakthrough renewable energy technology. This would be a good book to read if you are an investor. The authors point out that there is a considerable amount of money in Silicon Valley waiting to be tapped if the regulatory environment changes for alternative energy research and development. Google has an interesting program, Renewable Energe Cheaper than coal, and Vinod Khosla one of the founders of Sun Microsystems has started a venture capital firm focused on biofuels. The will to change is there, but the environment in the United States to bring about the change is difficult.

This book was on the New York Times Bestseller list, it is 279 pages long, there is an index and a short list of websites focused on renewable energy. I was not impressed with the writing in the book, it was a little slow. However, the subject held my interest readily. Fred Krupp is the president of the Ennvironmental Defense Fund, and Miriam Horn is a journalist.

Superlibrarian The Display

I am putting together a lobby display for the library called "The Librarian As Superhero." It is a bunch of different pictures mainly. Giles from Buffy, The Librarian: Quest For The Spear, Batgirl, Rex Libris, Nancy Pearl and her action figure. I actually got two copies of the Super Librarian comic book from the New Jersey State Library Association, one in spanish and another in english. I think the display should be kind of interesting. They also sent me a bookmark.
The Super Librarian comic book is here:
http://web.mac.com/ndowd/iWeb/Super%20Librarian%20Free%20Comic%20Book%20Day/Welcome.html

Last night was rather interesting. I sat with a new part-time librarian at the reference desk for two hours, and did two tours of my sections, law, business, and the job information center. It was kind of different showing people around.

I've been reading Earth The Sequel on the subway this morning. It is about different companies that are developing renewable energy solutions to our current dilemma with oil and global warming. The book talks about quite a few breakthroughs which I had not heard about. It also talks about a company that I am invested in, Finavera. It also writes about Greenfuel Technologies, Verenium, and other new ventures. Two people were talking energy policy on the train in this morning. I was sitting next to them while I was reading my book as they bantered back and forth. It was kind of entertaining.

I've taken a few minutes to look at Batman, The Dailies, 1943-1946, Sterling Publishers, c2007. The syndicated strips are far more different than the comic books. The first part is that they are stories about crime. Batman gets captured, he gets beat up by thugs, he makes daring escapes. He uses his brain a lot. There are very few supervillains. Most of his opponents are pirates, gangsters, grifters, and assorted criminals. There is a brief appearance of the Joker who uses laughing gas, but that is about it. The dailies are in black and white. This is Batman as he first appeared without all the bells and whistles done as his creator intended. The cover is a bit misleading, there is no Catwoman, no Two Face in the black, and no Pengun in the black and white comic.





In Batman, The Sunday Classics, 1943-1946, Sterling Publishers, c2007, the Penguin, Joker and Two Face make brief appearances. I rather like the style it is done in. The drawings are a lot simpler than the modern comic books. They have a more cartoonish quality to them. There is the bat cave, but it is not as complicated. There is the bat car, the laboratory, and the bat plane. The utility belt of Batman and Robin don't have a million devices in them. They have a bat walkie talkies, matches, and simple things. Bob Kane is often the penciller. They have a set of brief one page biographies on the artists. The Sunday edition is in full color.