Summary of Vaclav Smil's How the World Really Works

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 A benign science fiction scenario is that an extremely sapient civilization monitors Earth and its inhabitants. The probes make periodic visits to our planet, and only when they detect a previously unknown form of energy conversion or a new physical manifestation dependent on it do they make a second pass.
#2 The first microorganisms emerge nearly 4 billion years ago, but passing probes do not register them, as they are rare and remain hidden associated with alkaline hydrothermal vents at the ocean’s floor.
#3 The first extrasomatic use of energy is the controlled combustion of plants to create light and heat, which is used for cooking and comfort. The first crop cultivation is recorded about 10 millennia ago.
#4 By 1800, the UK is the most interesting country to the alien probe because it is an exceptional early adopter. The country has a early start in coal mining, and begins to use steam engines to power machines.

Sujets

• Sciences & Techniques
• Statistiques
• Statistiques
• Probabilités et statistiques
• General
• Mathematics
• Probability
• Statistics
• General officer
• Sciences et techniques

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 23 juillet 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9798822546837
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Vaclav Smil's How the World Really Works
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

A benign science fiction scenario is that an extremely sapient civilization monitors Earth and its inhabitants. The probes make periodic visits to our planet, and only when they detect a previously unknown form of energy conversion or a new physical manifestation dependent on it do they make a second pass.

#2

The first microorganisms emerge nearly 4 billion years ago, but passing probes do not register them, as they are rare and remain hidden associated with alkaline hydrothermal vents at the ocean’s floor.

#3

The first extrasomatic use of energy is the controlled combustion of plants to create light and heat, which is used for cooking and comfort. The first crop cultivation is recorded about 10 millennia ago.

#4

By 1800, the UK is the most interesting country to the alien probe because it is an exceptional early adopter. The country has a early start in coal mining, and begins to use steam engines to power machines.

#5

By 1950, fossil fuels supplied nearly three-quarters of primary energy, and inanimate prime movers—now with gasoline- and diesel-fueled internal combustion engines—provided more than 80 percent of all mechanical energy.

#6

The most important factor in the rise of civilization is the increasing dependence on fossil fuels. The amount of energy available to humans has tripled since the 19th century, and an average Earthling has at their disposal about 700 times more useful energy than their ancestors had at the beginning of the 19th century.

#7

The importance of energy in human affairs has been recognized by many throughout history. It is the basis of life, and it is the only truly universal currency. Nothing can occur in the world without its transformations.

#8

Modern economics, with its explanations and precepts, has largely ignored energy. It does not consider energy important for the physical process of production, and it assumes that energy doesn’t matter because the cost share of energy in the economy is so small that it can be ignored.

#9

The most common definition of energy is the capacity for doing work, but this is too Newtonian to be intuitive. We cannot reduce all energy into a single, easily described entity in our mind.

#10

Energy is among the most elusive and misunderstood concepts. It exists in various forms, and to make it useful to us, we must convert one form of it into another. But treating this multifaceted abstract as a monolith has been the norm, as if different forms of energy were effortlessly substitutable.

#11

Energy is a scalar, which in physics is a quantity that cannot be measured in terms of volume, mass, density, time, or speed. Power is a rate of energy production or consumption, and it is measured in watts = joules/seconds.

#12

The energy density of liquid fuels is far higher than that of coal, and they are readily available on demand. They are also much easier to produce, store, and distribute than coal.

#13

The shift from coal to crude oil took decades to accomplish. Crude oil was first extracted in the 1850s in Russia, Canada, and the US. The wells were shallow, and their daily productivities were low. It was not until the 1920s and 1930s that new markets for refined oil products were created.

#14

The use of car transportation in Europe and Japan began during the 1950s, and the expansion of foreign trade and travel. Global oil extraction of crude oil doubled during the 1950s, and by 1964 crude oil surpassed coal as the world’s most important fossil fuel.

#15

The second wave of oil price rises from 1978 to 1981 destroyed the economies of many countries, and the global economic growth rate dropped by about 90 percent between 1973 and 1982.

#16

Electricity is an extremely abstract form of energy. While people can understand and take advantage of the different forms of energy that exist, electricity is a black box system that people cannot fully understand.

#17

Despite the many benefits of electricity, it is still difficult to store it in quantities sufficient to meet the demand of a medium-sized city for just a week or two.

#18

The service sector dominates all modern economies, and its operation is completely dependent on electricity. Electric motors power elevators and escalators, air-condition buildings, open doors, and compact garbage.

#19

The history of electricity generation can be traced back to the 1890s, when alternating current transmission prevailed over direct current networks. The concurrent expansion of hydroelectric capacity accelerated during the 1930s, with large state-funded projects in the USA and the USSR.

#20

The high reliability of electricity supply is essential in societies where electricity powers everything from lights to heart-lung machines and industrial processes.

#21

The global energy supply should be decarbonized as quickly as possible, in order to limit average global warming to no more than 1. 5 degrees Celsius.

#22

Many countries now produce 15 percent of their electricity from intermittent sources without any major adjustments. Denmark shows how a small and well- interconnected market can go far higher. In 2019, 45 percent of its electricity came from wind generation, and this exceptionally high share can be sustained without any massive domestic reserve capacities.

#23

The future of nuclear generation is uncertain. Only China, India, and South Korea are committed to further expansion of their capacities. The West, on the other hand, has largely abandoned nuclear generation due to high capital costs and the availability of cheaper options.