Description

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A detailed blueprint for a clean sustainable energy future based on solar photovoltaics. Power Shift explains to a general audience how energy works and why it determines the future of humankind. Power Shift provides historical background on how the human relationship with energy developed, and how that relationship was gradually taken over by fossil fuels, converting us all into energy consumers. Now those fossil fuels are driving global warming and ocean acidification, forcing us to reexamine our energy systems and find alternatives. After reviewing the available choices, Power Shift focuses on solar photovoltaics (PV) as our best hope for the future, and develops a detailed plan that includes worldwide deployment of PV, combined with energy storage and energy efficiency, arriving at a 100% solar future in 50 years. Power Shift acknowledges the resistance to a solar future from fossil fuel corporations, and the reluctance of politicians to take any serious action on global warming. Power Shift describes an alternative bottom-up approach where individuals bypass such resistance and install their own PV systems. Such steps are possible because solar energy is distributed and available to almost everyone. Power Shift enlarges the reader's view of the world through the lens of energy. From that new vantage point, they will see hope for the future.

Praise For…

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"Solar is surging all of a sudden, and if you read this comprehensive book you'll understand why!"

-- Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth

"A detailed blueprint for a solar-powered, all-electric future. In this bright treatise, Stayton outlines how humanity might transition from finite, carbon dioxide-emitting fossil fuels to permanent, pollution-free solar power by the end of this century. ... He expertly blends scientific research, historical context, personal experience, and visionary thinking in this book and relates it all in plain language. He has a gift for demystifying things, ... An energy book that's a pleasure to read and sure to win new solar converts."

-- Kirkus Reviews

"With lucid, crystalline prose, Robert Stayton explains how western society became addicted to fossil fuels over the past two centuries and prescribes an antidote — solar power. He writes from direct experience, having converted his Santa Cruz home and automobile almost completely to photovoltaics. I especially enjoyed the many clear, illustrative drawings that complement his narrative. Power Shift is a book I can recommend to the many folks concerned today about the impact of modern lifestyles on our warming planet."

-- Michael Riordan, coauthor of The Solar Home Book

"California has ambitious goals for moving from fossil fuels to renewable energy, goals that can only be met by understanding our relationship to the energy we use and the steps we must take to get to live by renewable energy. Robert Stayton's book lays this out in an understandable framework - and points the way to a clean energy future."

-- John Laird, California Secretary for Natural Resources