Dr. Vaclav Smil is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Manitoba, Canada, and author of almost 40 books (to date) and innumerable academic articles on energy and environmental issues. His most recent book (2017) is Energy and Civilization: A History. A quick look at his listing in Wikipedia will produce a list of his other books.This book, published in 2010, deals with the unrealistic claims being made in many circles about our transition to carbon-free "green" energy. Smil does not write popular books - he writes carefully documented academic accounts of the real state of the world, and it requires some mental effort to follow all the various physics-based units of measurement. But it is worth the effort if one wants to understand the actual facts and constraints about transitioning to carbon-free energy, rather than succumb to the unrealistic ideology-based (rather than fact-based) fantasies being peddled in some quarters.
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