This final volume in a series that has surveyed advances in solar energy research since the oil shock of the early 1970s provides a broad overview of the U.S. solar thermal program. It summarizes the conclusions of each of the nine technical volumes in the series and offers lessons drawn from the program for future governmental efforts to foster specific technologies. Reading this history, it becomes clear that what was unique about the federal solar program was its attempt to create research guidelines that included commercialization as part of the expected outcome. The three contributors, all active participants in the solar project, are quite candid about what worked and what did not (and why). The result is a tale of bureaucracy and politics worth pondering as we debate the proper relationship between government and science.

Even as concern over climate change and energy security fuel a boom in solar technology, many still think of solar as a twentieth-century wonder. Few realize that the first photovoltaic array appeared on a New York City rooftop in 1884, or that brilliant engineers in France were using solar power in the 1860s to run steam engines, or that in 1901 an ostrich farmer in Southern California used a single solar engine to irrigate three hundred acres of citrus trees. Fewer still know that Leonardo da Vinci planned to make his fortune by building half-mile-long mirrors to heat water, or that the Bronze Age Chinese used hand-sized solar-concentrating mirrors to light fires the way we use matches and lighters today. With thirteen new chapters, Let It Shine is a fully revised and expanded edition of A Golden Thread, Perlin’s classic history of solar technology, detailing the past forty years of technological developments driving today’s solar renaissance. This unique and compelling compendium of humankind’s solar ideas tells the fascinating story of how our predecessors throughout time, again and again, have applied the sun to better their lives — and how we can too.

A kaleidoscopic book that illuminates our obsession with weather--as both physical reality and evocative metaphor--focusing on the ways in which it is perceived, feared, embraced, managed, and even marketed.

This book provides rich new empirical evidence on green business as it examines its variation between industries and nations, and over time. It demonstrates the deep historical origins of endeavors to create for-profit businesses that were more responsible and sustainable, but also how these strategies have faced constraints, trade-offs and challenges of legitimacy. Based on extensive interviews and archives from around the world, the book asks why green business succeeds more in some contexts than others, and draws lessons from failure as well as success.

Active Solar Systems is volume 6 in a series that surveys advances in solar energy research since the oil shock of the early 1970s. Books in the series document in particular the period 1973 to 1985, which spawned a rich array of federally financed technological programs and developments facilitating the practical use of solar energy. The twenty-two contributions in Active Solar Systems introduce design, analysis, and control methods for active systems and cover advances in the interconnected technologies for water heating, space heating, and space cooling. They show that, with effective marketing and with environmental costs factored into individual consumer decisions, there is strong potential for solar water heating and space heating, and that solar cooling has potential but needs further development to become commercially viable. The details of the materials involved in these technologies are covered in volume 5, Solar Collectors, Energy Storage, and Materials.

Interest in green chemistry and clean processes has grown so much in recent years that topics such as fluorous biphasic catalysis, metal organic frameworks, and process intensification, which were barely mentioned in the First Edition, have become major areas of research. In addition, government funding has ramped up the development of fuel cells and biofuels. This reflects the evolving focus from pollution remediation to pollution prevention. Copiously illustrated with more than 800 figures, the Third Edition provides an update from the frontiers of the field. It features supplementary exercises at the end of each chapter relevant to the chemical examples introduced in each chapter. Particular attention is paid to a new concluding chapter on the use of green metrics as an objective tool to demonstrate proof of synthesis plan efficiency and to identify where further improvements can be made through fully worked examples relevant to the chemical industry. NEW AND EXPANDED RESEARCH TOPICS Metal-organic frameworks Metrics Solid acids for alkylation of isobutene by butanes Carbon molecular sieves Mixed micro- and mesoporous solids Organocatalysis Process intensification and gas phase enzymatic reactions Hydrogen storage for fuel cells Reactive distillation Catalysts in action on an atomic scale UPDATED AND EXPANDED CURRENT EVENTS TOPICS Industry resistance to inherently safer chemistry Nuclear power Removal of mercury from vaccines Removal of mercury and lead from primary explosives Biofuels Uses for surplus glycerol New hard materials to reduce wear Electronic waste Smart growth The book covers traditional green chemistry topics, including catalysis, benign solvents, and alternative feedstocks. It also discusses relevant but less frequently covered topics with chapters such as "Chemistry of Long Wear" and "Population and the Environment." This coverage highlights the importance of chemistry to everyday life and demonstrates the benefits the expanded exploitation of green chemistry can have for society.

Describes developments in passive solar technology that will save time, energy, and resources in planning for the buildings of the future.This companion to Passive Cooling and Solar Building Architecture (volumes 8 and 9) describes developments in passive solar technology that will save time, energy, and resources in planning for the buildings of the future. It is filled with tips and useful research for architects and designers and includes three substantial chapters on general modeling. Passive solar heating works. Properly designed and constructed, it is cost-effective, practical, comfortable, and aesthetic. Balcomb's introductory remarks set the tone for the rest of the contributions, which describe the considerable record of achievements in passive solar heating. Balcomb summarizes and evaluates the era between 1976 and 1983 when most of the major developments took place and highlights the design features that have contributed to effective buildings. Three chapters cover modeling passive systems (applicable to both heating and cooling), and six chapters focus on the application of passive solar heating, with emphasis on components, analytical results for specific systems, test modules, subsystem integration into buildings, performance monitoring and results, and design tools.J. Douglas Balcomb is a Principal Engineer with the Solar Energy Research Institute.

The handbook, for convenient use, is divided into eight main units: (1) The Solar Resource; (2) Solar Thermal Collectors; (3) Photovoltaics; (4) Bioconversion; (5) Wind Energy; (6) Solar Energy Storage Systems; (7) Applications of Solar Energy; (8) Non-technical Issues. In addition there are three Appendixes containing unit-conversion tables and useful solar data. It became obvious early in this project that if proper coverage were to be given each of these areas it would be necessary to divide the handbook into two volumes. The first six units constitute Part A, Engineering Fundamentals and the last two units constitute Part B, Applications, Systems Design, and Economics. These volumes have been prepared primarily as reference books, but it is felt that many of the sections will prove useful for practicing engineers, scientists and students.

With roughly 5500 references, this book may be considered more of a treatise than a mere introduction to green chemistry. Using an unconventional approach, the author provides a broad but thorough review of the subject, covering traditional green chemistry topics such as catalysis, benign solvents, and alternative feedstocks before moving on to less frequently covered topics such as chemistry of longer wear and population and the environmental chemistry. Topics such as these highlight the importance of chemistry to everyday life and demonstrate the real benefits that wider exploitation of green chemistry can have for society.