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Investigates the systems of infrastructure that sustain the world and the cultures of historical periods, following various elements, from electricity and pavement to water and waste disposal, back to their origins and people who operate them.
A revelatory look at our national power grid--how it developed, its current flaws, and how it must be completely reimagined for our fast-approaching energy future. America's electrical grid, an engineering triumph of the twentieth century, is turning out to be a poor fit for the present. It's not just that the grid has grown old and is now in dire need of basic repair. Today, as we invest great hope in new energy sources--solar, wind, and other alternatives--the grid is what stands most firmly in the way of a brighter energy future. If we hope to realize this future, we need to reimagine the grid according to twenty-first-century values. It's a project which forces visionaries to work with bureaucrats, legislators with storm-flattened communities, moneymen with hippies, and the left with the right. And though it might not yet be obvious, this revolution is already well under way. Cultural anthropologist Gretchen Bakke unveils the many facets of America's energy infrastructure, its most dynamic moments and its most stable ones, and its essential role in personal and national life. The grid, she argues, is an essentially American artifact, one which developed with us: a product of bold expansion, the occasional foolhardy vision, some genius technologies, and constant improvisation. Most of all, her focus is on how Americans are changing the grid right now, sometimes with gumption and big dreams and sometimes with legislation or the brandishing of guns. The Grid tells--entertainingly, perceptively--the story of what has been called "the largest machine in the world": its fascinating history, its problematic present, and its potential role in a brighter, cleaner future.
'A highly original, electrifying read' The Times 'A stylish, riveting thriller' Daily Mail 'An assured page-turner ... it combines action and foreign locations with big ideas a la Dan Brown' Sunday Times The US President Thompson has been dreaming of his own death. A repeating nightmare that hounds him night after night that he can't ignore: something tells him it's not just a dream, it feels too real. Thompson's doctor, military psychiatrist Josh Cain, is summoned to a church tower near the White House. He thinks he is there to talk down another suicidal ex-Marine. But the man he finds tells him of a plot to kill Thompson, revealing secrets he can't possibly have known - just seconds before a sniper's bullet takes him out . . . Battles have been fought man to man, then machine to machine, and even in cyberspace. But now there is a different battlefield emerging: human consciousness and the fight for our minds. What readers are saying: 'A classy, intelligent and reflective investigative thriller.' 'A layered plot, engaging characters and a spine chilling ring of truth to the plot, which lured me in and kept me trapped until the final page.' 'A real page turner with plenty of surprises and twists. Great read.' 'THE BEST BOOK THAT I'VE READ ALL YEAR!'
The history of the grid, the world's largest interconnected power machine that is North America's electricity infrastructure. The North American power grid has been called the world's largest machine. The grid connects nearly every living soul on the continent; Americans rely utterly on the miracle of electrification. In this book, Julie Cohn tells the history of the grid, from early linkages in the 1890s through the grid's maturity as a networked infrastructure in the 1980s. She focuses on the strategies and technologies used to control power on the grid—in fact made up of four major networks of interconnected power systems—paying particular attention to the work of engineers and system operators who handled the everyday operations. To do so, she consulted sources that range from the pages of historical trade journals to corporate archives to the papers of her father, Nathan Cohn, who worked in the industry from 1927 to 1989—roughly the period of key power control innovations across North America. Cohn investigates major challenges and major breakthroughs but also the hidden aspects of our electricity infrastructure, both technical and human. She describes the origins of the grid and the growth of interconnection; emerging control issues, including difficulties in matching generation and demand on linked systems; collaboration and competition against the backdrop of economic depression and government infrastructure investment; the effects of World War II on electrification; postwar plans for a coast-to-coast grid; the northeast blackout of 1965 and the East-West closure of 1967; and renewed efforts at achieving stability and reliability after those two events.
Poetry. In this exquisite third book, Bert Stern grapples with the elemental and the extraordinary, looking back on the length of his journey and finding realms of possibility, powerful proof of a life well lived. Moments of divine recognition pervade these poems--their rough terrains, their changing atmospheres and stunning grace--culminating in a profound sense of gratitude for the tactile world. Here is a poet writing at the height of his powers.
"Shorting the Grid" describes how closed meetings, arcane auction rules, and five-minute planning horizons will topple the reliability of our electric grid. Hopeful speeches will not keep the lights on.
Is city life fencing you in? Break free of the daily grind with off-the-grid solutions for a simpler, stress-free tomorrow. Are you overworked and overcrowded? Do you dream of dropping off the radar? Do you crave the peace of mind that only nature can provide? Fitness and military intelligence expert Gary Collins has helped thousands of people roam free with firsthand advice shared on his popular website. And now he’s here to help you reclaim your independence. Going Off the Grid: The How-To Book of Simple Living and Happiness contains step-by-step instructions for creating your self-sustaining refuge in the untamed wild or the blacktop jungle. Through Collins’ methods, you’ll identify and purge unnecessary stressors from your everyday life. You’ll also learn the basics of off-the-grid living from home construction to energy alternatives, from sewage disposal to internet access. In Going Off the Grid, you’ll discover: - How to downsize your current living conditions for a clutter-free future - Techniques for simplifying your hectic schedule so you can enjoy life’s simple pleasures - How to find the ideal off-the-grid property that will meet your every need - Common types of building techniques and materials for high energy efficiency and insulation - Fun and informative stories detailing Collins’ off-the-grid nomadic lifestyle and much, much more! Going Off the Grid is your must-have handbook for living outside the city limits. If you like DIY guides, practical expert advice, and bucking societal expectations, then you’ll love Gary Collins’ roadmap to a liberating lifestyle. Buy Going Off the Grid to plan your escape into a new world of possibilities today!
Off-grid isn’t a state of mind. It isn’t about someone being out of touch, about a place that is hard to get to, or about a weekend spent offline. Off-grid is the property of a building (generally a home but sometimes even a whole town) that is disconnected from the electricity and the natural gas grid. To live off-grid, therefore, means having to radically re-invent domestic life as we know it, and this is what this book is about: individuals and families who have chosen to live in that dramatically innovative, but also quite old, way of life. This ethnography explores the day-to-day lives of people in each of Canada’s provinces and territories living off the grid. Vannini and Taggart demonstrate how a variety of people, all with different environmental constraints, live away from contemporary civilization. The authors also raise important questions about our social future and whether off-grid living creates an environmentally and culturally sustainable lifestyle practice. These homes are experimental labs for our collective future, an intimate look into unusual contemporary domestic lives, and a call to the rest of us leading ordinary lives to examine what we take for granted. This book is ideal for courses on the environment and sustainability as well as introduction to sociology and introduction to cultural anthropology courses.
This comprehensive reference text discusses uncertainty modeling of renewable energy resources and its steady state analysis. The text discusses challenges related to renewable energy integration to the grid, techniques to mitigate these challenges, problems associated with integration at transmission and distribution voltage level, and protection of power system with large renewable power integration. It covers important concepts including voltage issues in power networks, use of FACTS devices for reactive power management, stochastic optimization, robust optimization, and spatiotemporal dependence modeling. Key Features: Presents analysis and modeling of renewable generation uncertainty for planning and operation, beneficial for industry professionals and researchers. Discusses dependence modeling of multi-site renewable generations in detail. Covers probabilistic analysis, useful for data analysts. Discusses various aspects of renewable energy integration i.e. technical, economic, etc. Covers correlation factors, and methodologies are validated with case studies with various standard test systems. The text will be useful for graduate students and professionals in the fields of electrical engineering, electronics and communication engineering, renewable energy, and clean technologies.