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Solar Revolution: The Economic Transformation of the Global Energy Industry (The\mit Press Ser.)
by Travis BradfordAn innovative analysis that shows how the shift to solar energy—in particular, the use of photovoltaic cells—is both economically advantageous and inevitable, and will rival the information and communication technologies revolution in its transformative effects.In Solar Revolution, fund manager and former corporate buyout specialist Travis Bradford argues—on the basis of standard business and economic forecasting models—that over the next two decades solar energy will increasingly become the best and cheapest choice for most electricity and energy applications. Solar Revolution outlines the path by which the transition to solar technology and sustainable energy practices will occur.Developments in the photovoltaic (PV) industry over the last ten years have made direct electricity generation from PV cells a cost-effective and feasible energy solution, despite the common view that PV technology appeals only to a premium niche market. Bradford shows that PV electricity today has become the choice of hundreds of thousands of mainstream homeowners and businesses in many markets worldwide, including Japan, Germany, and the American Southwest. Solar energy will eventually be the cheapest source of energy in nearly all markets and locations because PV can bypass the aging and fragile electricity grid and deliver its power directly to the end user, fundamentally changing the underlying economics of energy. As the scale of PV production increases and costs continue to decline at historic rates, demand for PV electricity will outpace supply of systems for years to come. Ultimately, the shift from fossil fuels to solar energy will take place not because solar energy is better for the environment or energy security, or because of future government subsidies or as yet undeveloped technology. The solar revolution is already occurring through decisions made by self-interested energy users. The shift to solar energy is inevitable and will be as transformative as the last century's revolutions in information and communication technologies.
Solar Technology and Global Environmental Justice: The Vision and the Reality (Routledge Studies in Environmental Justice)
by Andreas RoosBuilding on insights from ecological economics and philosophy of technology, this book offers a novel, interdisciplinary approach to understand the contradictory nature of Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology. Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is rapidly emerging as a cost-effective option in the world economy. However, reports about miserable working conditions, environmentally deleterious mineral extraction and toxic waste dumps corrode the image of a problem-free future based on solar power. Against this backdrop, Andreas Roos explores whether ‘ecologically unequal exchange’ – an asymmetric transfer of labour time and natural resources – is a necessary condition for solar PV development. He demonstrates how the massive increase in solar PV installation over recent years would not have been possible without significant wage/price differences in the world economy - notably between Europe/North America and Asia- and concludes that solar PV development is currently contingent on environmental injustices in the world economy. As a solution, Roos argues that solar technology is best coupled with strategies for degrowth, which allow for a transition away from fossil fuels and towards a socially just and ecologically sustainable future. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of solar power, philosophy of technology, and environmental justice.
Solar Thermal Desalination Technologies for Potable Water: Exploring Viable Options for Reliable and Sustainable Water Production
by H. Sharon K. Srinivas ReddyThis book covers the basics and advancements in various solar thermal desalination systems that are highly affordable and viable even for applications in low-income countries. Fresh water is an essential natural resource needed for the continuous existence of living organisms on earth. Civilizations have started and flourished along riverbanks which can be understood from historical literature. This precious resource has also been a cause for a lot of past and current wars and conflicts among different ethnic groups and nations around the globe. In the current scenario, access to clean drinking water is getting harder and more expensive for most of the population in middle- and low-income countries. This volume provides detailed knowledge on effectively utilizing solar energy for desalination to fulfill clean water supply demands. The content presents detailed thermodynamic modeling of various solar thermal desalination systems and highlights the role of the solar thermal distillation process in wastewater treatment and improved sanitation through a case study. The book also provides a detailed methodology for assessing the economics, environmental footprints, and sustainability of desalination systems. The book will be highly beneficial for researchers, professionals, and activists dealing with water, energy, and the environment.
Solar Thermal Energy (Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology Series)
by Spiros Alexopoulos Soteris A. KalogirouThis volume of the Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology, Second Edition, describes technologies that actively convert solar radiation into useful heat in a temperature range from just above ambient up to more than 1,000°C. Applications cover a broad range of energy services such as space heating, cooking, domestic hot water supply, electrical power generation, and high temperature thermochemical processes. The major developments that have led to currently available technologies for solar thermal energy applications were initiated mainly after the first oil shock in 1973. Solar thermal energy is widely used already for heating purposes (water, space) in the “low” temperature range up to about 100°C employing mainly nonconcentrating collectors, whereas higher temperatures can be achieved with more sophisticated solar collector technologies. Temperatures over 200°C typically require concentrating solar radiation using mirror systems. Several different technologies are described in detail in this volume, including solar collector systems in the lower temperature range, the direct use of solar radiation for food processing, namely cooking and drying, the production of electricity through conversion of solar radiation first to heat, driving a mechanical conversion system coupled to an electric generator, the use of solar radiation to drive chemical processes, and many more.
Solar Thermal Energy Systems: Fundamentals, Technology, Applications
by Werner Platzer Robert StieglitzThis textbook is intended for master's level engineering students in the field of their studies. It begins with an analysis of the growing world population's energy demand (heat and electricity) and its connection to the undeniable climate change, necessitating the expansion of climate-friendly technologies. The book is divided into two sections. The first section (Chapters 2 to 7) presents the physical fundamentals of solar thermal energy usage, along with the necessary processes, methods, and models. The second section (Chapters 8-12) covers the synthesis of the developed fundamentals applied to various functional solar thermal systems. It not only provides the logic and methods for transferring the physical fundamentals into an operative technical system but also includes aspects of concept development, selection, economic evaluation, and performance. Additionally, measurement and control technology are presented, underpinned by real projects that have already been successfully implemented.
Solarnomics: Setting Up and Managing a Profitable Solar Business
by David WrightSolar power has come of age. Not only has it become one of the key alternatives to fossil fuels, it can now be deployed in a way that makes a viable business with a financial profit. This book shows industry professionals and students how to do just that. Solarnomics describes the economics of building and operating a solar power plant today and provides a window into a future in which several technologies collaborate, and in which all participants in the electricity grid become smarter at scheduling both the supply and demand for electric power to give humanity a future that is sustainable, both environmentally and economically. The book shows how to estimate costs and revenues, how to tweak the design of a project to improve profitability, how to calculate return on investment, how to assess and deal with risk, how to raise capital, how to combine solar with batteries to make a hybrid microgrid, and how to be prepared for future developments in the evolving smart electricity grid. Solarnomics will enable professionals in the solar industry to assess the potential profitability of a proposed solar project, and it will enable students to add an extra dimension to their understanding of sustainability.
Sold American
by Charles F. McgovernAt the turn of the twentieth century, an emerging consumer culture in the United States promoted constant spending to meet material needs and develop social identity and self-cultivation. In Sold American, Charles F. McGovern examines the key players active in shaping this cultural evolution: advertisers and consumer advocates. McGovern argues that even though these two professional groups invented radically different models for proper spending, both groups propagated mass consumption as a specifically American social practice and an important element of nationality and citizenship.Advertisers, McGovern shows, used nationalist ideals, icons, and political language to define consumption as the foundation of the pursuit of happiness. Consumer advocates, on the other hand, viewed the market with a republican-inspired skepticism and fought commercial incursions on consumer independence. The result, says McGovern, was a redefinition of the citizen as consumer. The articulation of an "American Way of Life" in the Depression and World War II ratified consumer abundance as the basis of a distinct American culture and history.
Sold Out: How High-Tech Billionaires & Bipartisan Beltway Crapweasels Are Screwing America's Best & Brightest Workers
by Michelle Malkin John MianoThe #1 New York Times bestselling author and firebrand syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin sets her sights on the corrupt businessmen, politicians, and lobbyists flooding our borders and selling out America's best and brightest workers.In Sold Out, Michelle Malkin and John Miano reveal the worst perpetrators screwing America's high-skilled workers, how and why they're doing it--and what we must do to stop them. In this book, they will name names and expose the lies of those who pretend to champion the middle class, while aiding and abetting massive layoffs of highly skilled American workers in favor of cheap foreign labor. Malkin and Miano will explode some of the most commonly told myths spread in the media like these: Lie #1: America is suffering from an apocalyptic "shortage" of science, technology, engineering, and math workers. Lie #2: US companies cannot function without an unlimited injection of the most "highly skilled" and "highly educated" foreign workers, who offer intellectual capital and entrepreneurial energy that American workers can't match. Lie #3: America's best and brightest talents are protected because employers are required to demonstrate that they've made every effort to hire American citizens before resorting to foreign labor. For too long, open-borders tech billionaires and their political enablers have escaped tough public scrutiny of their means and motives. Sold Out is an indictment of not only political corruption in Washington, but also the journalistic malpractice that enables it. It's time to trade the whitewash for solvent. American workers deserve better and the public deserves the unvarnished truth.
Sold Out: How Broken Supply Chains, Surging Inflation, and Political Instability Will Sink the Global Economy
by James RickardsFrom the man who predicted the worst economic crisis in US history comes Jim Rickards&’ second prediction – the collapse of our global economy.The supply chain crisis is coming to a head. Today, your favorite products are missing from store shelves, caught in supply chain limbo somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. But what does this supply chain disruption look like six months, or even three years, from now? While we hope that post-pandemic recovery will absolve these issues, the reality is that digital currency, meme stonks, and social media can&’t solve the age-old problem of producing and moving physical goods across oceans and continents. According to Jim Rickards, consumer frustration is only the tip of a very large, menacing iceberg that threatens global economic collapse.In Sold Out, Rickards shares his predictions for our post-pandemic future and outlines how consumers and business owners can get ahead of the collapse. You&’ll learn how energy shortages in China – fueled by the trade war with Australia – are disrupting the steel market and forcing entire factories to shut down. You&’ll also learn how rising inflation will ultimately lead to deflation in a few short years – as consumer spending eventually tanks due to higher taxes, excessive debt, and increased layoffs – and why such economic conditions will closely resemble the 1930s. Finally, Rickards will look at the future of money, including the erasure of the American dollar itself.Our global economy faces unprecedented challenges in the next few months. But whether we sink or swim depends on how prepared we are – and what we do now to thwart the coming collapse.
Sold to the Man With the Tin Leg
by Philip SerrellWhen Philip Serrell - now well known for his television appearances - gave up teaching to become a professional auctioneer, he thought he was embarking on a sensible and safe career . . . a quiet life in the country with no surprises. In THE AUCTIONEER'S LOT we found out how wrong he was. SOLD TO THE MAN WITH THE TIN LEG Philip describes more of his extraordinary experiences as a country auctioneer, aided and abetted by some of the most colourful characters Worcestershire has to offer. From dodgy cars to fakes in the saleroom; angry livestock, mangled silverware and tortuous - not to mention muddy - experiences in local markets and farm sales, Philip has been there, done that and got the hoofprints on his suit to prove it. And of course, there's the return¬? Philip's tin-legged boss . . .
Sold to the Man With the Tin Leg
by Philip SerrellWhen Philip Serrell - now well known for his television appearances - gave up teaching to become a professional auctioneer, he thought he was embarking on a sensible and safe career . . . a quiet life in the country with no surprises. In THE AUCTIONEER'S LOT we found out how wrong he was. SOLD TO THE MAN WITH THE TIN LEG Philip describes more of his extraordinary experiences as a country auctioneer, aided and abetted by some of the most colourful characters Worcestershire has to offer. From dodgy cars to fakes in the saleroom; angry livestock, mangled silverware and tortuous - not to mention muddy - experiences in local markets and farm sales, Philip has been there, done that and got the hoofprints on his suit to prove it. And of course, there's the return  Philip's tin-legged boss . . .
Soldier of Finance: Take Charge of Your Money and Invest in Your Future
by Jeff RoseToo much debt? Not enough savings? Stop your whining and get to work. It's time to become a battle-ready financial warrior, prepared to tackle any money challenge. Modeled on the Soldier's Handbook, which is issued to all new U.S. Army recruits, Soldier of Finance is a no-nonsense, military-style training manual to overcoming financial obstacles and building lasting wealth. Written by Jeff Rose, a Certified Financial Planner(t) and army veteran with extensive combat experience, the book is divided into 14 modules, each section covering an essential element of financial success. You will learn how to: * Evaluate your position and commit to change * Target and methodically eliminate debt * Clean up your credit report * Create tactical budgets * Build emergency savings * Invest for the short and long term * Determine an affordable mortgage size, insurance needs, and more. Complete with tales from the trenches and useful tools including quizzes, debriefings, and more-Soldier of Finance is the survival guide you need to face down your finances and bring order and prosperity to your life.
Soldiers and Oil: The Political Transformation of Nigeria (Routledge Library Editions: The Oil Industry #11)
by Keith Panter-BrickSoldiers and Oil (1978) examines Nigeria under military rule from 1966 to 1978, a period of political change as well as economic – the period also saw a twenty-fold increase in Nigerian oil revenues. The oil industry became by far the greatest single source of public revenue, and the distribution of oil wealth by the central federal government fundamentally changed the economics of the federated states, created by the military government , whose financial autonomy had been so jealously guarded.
Sole Influence: Basketball, Corporate Greed, and the Corruption of America's Youth
by Don Yaeger Dan WetzelExplosive and controversial, this exposé uncovers the exploitation of college, high school, and even junior high basketball players by the billion-dollar athletic shoe companies competing for national endorsements.
Solid Code
by John Bruno Donis MarshallGet best-in-class engineering practices to help you write more-robust, bug-free code. Two Microsoft .NET development experts share real-world examples and proven methods for optimizing the software development life cycle--from avoiding costly programming pitfalls to making your development team more efficient. Managed code developers at all levels will find design, prototyping, implementation, debugging, and testing tips to boost the quality of their code--today. Optimize each stage of the development process--from design to testing--and produce higher-quality applications. Use metaprogramming to reduce code complexity, while increasing flexibility and maintainability Treat performance as a feature--and manage it throughout the development life cycle Apply best practices for application scalability Employ preventative security measures to ward off malicious attacks Practice defensive programming to catch bugs before run time Incorporate automated builds, code analysis, and testing into the daily engineering process Implement better source-control management and check-in procedures Establish a quality-driven, milestone-based project rhythm--and improve your results!
Solid Waste Management in Delta Region for SDGs Fulfillment: Delta Sustainability by Waste Management (Deltas of the World)
by Balasubramani Ravindran Mahmoud Nasr“This book offers a comprehensive exploration of sustainable solid waste management practices in delta regions worldwide. With attention to detail, this work presents a systematic review, illuminating case studies, original research, and insightful meta-analyses tailored to address the unique challenges faced by delta environments. Home to over half a billion people, or approximately 7% of the global population, delta regions are dynamic ecological and social landscapes, despite accounting for only 1% of the world's land area. Yet, they play a pivotal role in national economies. Given the significant size and density of populations in these regions, understanding solid waste generation patterns, trends, and impacts is essential for global sustainability efforts. By focusing on deltaic regions, we aim to provide essential insights into effective policy planning and advancements in social and ecological sustainability. Explore a diverse array of topics, including the bioconversion of food waste into environmentally friendly compounds, sustainable production and disposal practices to address water quality concerns, and innovative waste management applications to combat channel clogging and flooding in delta districts. Delve into best practices for managing climate-related flood risks, addressing urban responses, and tackling environmental pollution associated with unmanaged waste disposal in delta catchments. Additionally, gain valuable insights into the regulatory framework guiding waste management practices, particularly in delta regions facing significant plastic pollution challenges. This book navigates the complexities of solid waste management in delta regions, paving the way for a more sustainable future.”
Solid Waste Policies and Strategies: Issues, Challenges and Case Studies
by Sadhan Kumar GhoshThe book focuses on the challenges faced by urban areas in the context of handling waste in an environmentally and socially acceptable manner. It also discusses effective waste management approaches, which differ according to culture, climate, and socio-economic variables, as well as institutional volume. Presenting selected, high-quality papers from IconSWM 2018, the book explores a number of waste management methods with the help of case studies.
Solid Wood: Case Studies in Mass Timber Architecture, Technology and Design
by Joseph MayoOver the past 10-15 years a renaissance in wood architecture has occurred with the development of new wood building systems and design strategies, elevating wood from a predominantly single-family residential idiom to a rival of concrete and steel construction for a variety of building types, including high rises. This new solid wood architecture offers unparalleled environmental as well as construction and aesthetic benefits, and is of growing importance for professionals and academics involved in green design. Solid Wood provides the first detailed book which allows readers to understand new mass timber/massive wood architecture. It provides: historical context in wood architecture from around the world a strong environmental rationale for the use of wood in buildings recent developments in contemporary fire safety and structural issues insights into building code challenges detailed case studies of new large-scale wood building systems on a country-by-country basis. Case studies from the UK, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Italy, Canada, the United States, New Zealand and Australia highlight design strategies, construction details and unique cultural attitudes in wood design. The case studies include the most ambitious academic, hospitality, industrial, multi-family, and wood office buildings in the world. With discussions from leading architectural, engineering, and material manufacturing firms in Europe, North America and the South Pacific, Solid Wood disrupts preconceived notions and serves as an indispensable guide to twenty-first century wood architecture and its environmental and cultural benefits.
Solidarités provinciales: Histoire de la Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Nouveau-Brunswick
by David Frank Réjean OuelletteLa Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Nouveau-Brunswick, fondée en 1913, est la deuxième plus ancienne fédération provinciale du travail au Canada. Son histoire remonte aux premières campagnes en faveur de l’indemnisation des accidents du travail et de la reconnaissance syndicale, et elle se poursuit dans les plus récentes luttes visant à défendre les normes sociales et à protéger les emplois et les droits syndicaux. La Fédération a vu le jour dans la ville portuaire de Saint John et le centre ferroviaire de Moncton, puis elle s’est étendue aux travailleurs des mines et des usines du nord de la province, soutenant la cause des employés du secteur public et des travailleuses, reflétant les réalités de la vie et du travail dans une société bilingue. Puisant dans les archives, les journaux et les expériences des travailleurs et des travailleuses, voici l’histoire inédite de solidarités syndicales provinciales qui ont surmonté les divisions et les revers afin de rehausser le statut des travailleurs et des travailleuses dans la société néo-brunswickoise. Par cette étude pionnière rédigée dans un style clair et puissant, Frank apporte une contribution originale à la compréhension de l’évolution politique, économique et sociale de la province, et il aide à combler le besoin d’éclairer la connaissance que le public a de l’histoire des travailleurs et des syndicats de toutes les régions du Canada.
Solidarity Across Generations: Comparative Law Perspectives (Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law #49)
by Eri KasagiThis book addresses the universal and topical question of solidarity across generations from a comparative perspective, with a particular focus on the legal issues concerning retirement pensions, the poverty in the elderly, long-term care, as well as state interventions and family support for those at risk. Drawing on insights from the interface between family law, administrative law and social law, it examines 13 countries on different continents, and also briefly covers a number of additional countries in the introduction. This book is a based on the discussions and exchanges at the 20th General Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law, in Fukuoka, Japan.
Solidarity and Conflict: European Social Law In Crisis
by Silvana SciarraThe ongoing austerity crisis is being felt in all sectors of EU law, but has had a particularly severe impact on labour law. <P><P>Silvana Sciarra, a leading judge and scholar of EU employment law, considers how solidarity regimes have been shaken by the crisis. She brings together existing European policies in social and employment law, to enhance synergies and developments in a post-crisis discourse. She looks at reactions of national constitutional courts to austerity measures and of international organizations in re-establishing respect of fundamental workers' rights. <P>Criticizing soft law approaches in employment policies, she favours recourse to binding measures connected with selective financial incentives through European funds. She highlights developments in European sector social dialogue and new horizons of transnational collective bargaining in large multinationals. Taking a positive, practical approach, Sciarra shows how social policies can enhance solidarity and social cohesion, through European financial support. <P>Provides a critical and constructive point of view on European social law developments.<P> Combines information on legal sources with proposals for better policy making.<P> Discusses highly topical issues around austerity and workers' rights.
Solidarity and Fragmentation: Working People and Class Consciousness in Detroit, 1875-1900 (Working Class in American History)
by Richard Jules OestreicherHow did the interplay between class and ethnicity play out within the working class during the Gilded Age? Richard Jules Oestreicher illuminates the immigrant communities, radical politics, worker-employer relationships, and the multiple meanings of workers' affiliations in Detroit at the end of the nineteenth century.
Solidarity and Organization: Toward New Avenues for Management
by Philippe Eynaud Genauto Carvalho de França FilhoSolidarity is an ‘unthought’ in the fields of organizational theory and management sciences. However, it is an increasingly important feature in the management of organizations. The contemporary world suffers from a double unsustainability: the abusive exploitation of natural resources endangers the balance of the climate and biodiversity, while growing inequalities condemn our ability to maintain a balanced society. These unsustainabilities are mutually reinforcing and call for the affirmation of a double solidarity, which unites humans among themselves, and links humans and nonhumans. Such an effort cannot be decreed. It must be organized.Based on numerous grassroots initiatives and citizens’ experimentations that are being invented every day around the world and on a historical and anthropological approach, this book explores different ways of combining solidarity and organization. Solidarity-based management, governance of the commons, and Buen Vivir approaches are some of the perspectives analyzed in the context of a North-South dialogue in order to formulate the conceptual framework and practical steps of a social and environmental transition. It offers both theoretical background and living examples to students, professors and researchers to better understand and better teach new avenues for management.
Solidarity & Care: Domestic Worker Activism In New York City
by Alana Lee GlaserThe members of the Domestic Workers United (DWU) organization—immigrant women of color employed as nannies, caregivers, and housekeepers in New York City—formed to fight for dignity and respect and to “bring meaningful change” to their work. Alana Lee Glaser examines the process of how these domestic workers organized against precarity, isolation, and exploitation to help pass the 2010 New York State Domestic Worker Bill of Rights, the first labor law in the United States protecting in-home workers. Solidarity & Care examines the political mobilization of diverse care workers who joined together and supported one another through education, protests, lobbying, and storytelling. Domestic work activists used narrative and emotional appeals to build a coalition of religious communities, employers of domestic workers, labor union members, and politicians to first pass and then to enforce the new law. Through oral history interviews, as well as ethnographic observation during DWU meetings and protest actions, Glaser chronicles how these women fought (and continue to fight) to improve working conditions. She also illustrates how they endure racism, punitive immigration laws, on-the-job indignities, and unemployment that can result in eviction and food insecurity. The lessons from Solidarity & Care along with the DWU’s precedent-setting legislative success have applications to workers across industries. All royalties will go directly to the Domestic Workers United
Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Toward Social Justice
by Fernando Gapasin Bill Fletcher Jr."Solidarity Divided" is a critical examination of labor's current crisis and a plan for a new way forward into the twenty-first century. Bill Fletcher and Fernando Gapasin, two longtime union insiders, offer a remarkable mix of vivid history and probing analysis. They chart changes in U.S. manufacturing, examine the onslaught of globalization, consider the influence of the environment on labor, and provide the first broad analysis of the fallout from the 2000 and 2004 elections on the U.S. labor movement.