Publisher: IRENA
Green hydrogen can help to cut emissions in energy-intensive, hard-to decarbonise sectors like steel, chemicals, long-haul transport, shipping and aviation. But electrolyser costs must be cut to make it economical.
An “extraordinarily informative and profusely illustrated” history of how a town built a railway, and a railway built a town (Midwest Book Review). On September 27, 1825, the first public railway steam train left New Shildon for Stockton-on-Tees, England. The driver was George Stephenson and the engine he was driving was the “Locomotion No.1.” It set off from a settlement that consisted of just a set of rails and four houses, none of which had been there a year before. The four houses became a town with a five-figure population, a town that owed its existence to the railway that made its home there—the Stockton and Darlington (S&DR). Some of the earliest and greatest railway pioneers worked there, including George and his son Robert; the Hackworth brothers, Timothy and Thomas; and the engineer William Bouch. Their story is part of New Shildon’s story. The locomotive works, created to build and maintain steam locomotives, morphed into the world’s most innovative works, whose demise had more to do with politics than productivity. This book covers Shildon’s years between 1820 and today, including the war interludes when the Wagon Works was manned by women and the output was mostly intended for the Ministry of Defense. The story of the creation of the town’s railway museum and the arrival of Hitachi at Newton Aycliffe brings the history up to date and, to complete the picture, there is also a description of the ongoing new build G5 steam locomotive project on Hackworth Industrial Estate, the very site where the S&DR locomotive and wagon works was located. It is the story of a railway town—and also the story of the people who lived there and made it what it is today.Show book
Join three Nobel laureates in physics and cosmology in a captivating quest to solve the mysteries of the universe. Is time travel possible? What does it mean to say the universe is fine-tuned? Could our universe be fake? Or, if it is real, is it part of a multiverse? In an attempt to solve such mysteries, leading experts attempt to break the world down to its smallest particles and build it back up—to understand the universe by understanding the atom.In this compelling audio course, Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn, creator and host of the hit PBS series Closer to Truth, examines the riddles of the universe with 13 luminaries in physics, cosmology, astronomy, philosophy, mathematics, and chemistry. Kuhn’s interlocutors include three Nobel laureates: University of California, San Francisco physics professor David Gross, recognized for his contributions to particle physics and string theory; Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics professor Frank Wilczek, celebrated for his research in fundamental particle physics, cosmology, and the physics of materials; and Saul Perlmutter, head of the Supernova Cosmology project at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. You’ll learn a great deal from Kuhn’s interviewees, but you’ll also join them in marveling at what remains unknown. For, as Kuhn says, “the more we comprehend, the greater the mystery.”This course is part of the Learn25 collection.Show book
We've known for decades that climate change is an existential crisis. For just as long, we've seen the complete failure of our institutions to rise to the challenge. Fossil fuel interests maintain a stranglehold on political and economic power. Even though we have seen growing concern from everyday people, civil society has succeeded only in pressuring decision makers to adopt watered-down policies. Is there any hope of achieving the systemic change we need?Dana R. Fisher argues that there is a realistic path forward for climate action—but only through mass mobilization that responds to the growing severity and frequency of disastrous events. She assesses the current state of affairs and shows why public policy and private-sector efforts have been ineffective. Spurred by this lack of progress, climate activism has become increasingly confrontational. Fisher examines the radical flank of the climate movement: its emergence and growth, its use of direct action, and how it might evolve as the climate crisis worsens. She considers when and how activism is most successful, identifying the importance of creating community, capitalizing on shocking moments, and cultivating resilience. Clear-eyed yet optimistic, Saving Ourselves offers timely insights on how social movements can take power back and open windows of opportunity for transformative climate action.Show book
While working on his second novel, John Sedgwick spiraled into a depression so profound that it very nearly resulted in suicide. An author acclaimed for his intimate literary excursions into the rarified, moneyed enclave of Brahmin Boston, he decided to search for the roots of his malaise in the history of his own storied family—one of America's oldest and most notable. Following a bloodline that travels from Theodore Sedgwick, compatriot of George Washington and John Adams, to Edie Sedgwick, Andy Warhol's tragic muse, John Sedgwick's very personal journey of self-discovery became something far greater: a spellbinding study of the evolution of an extraordinary American family.Show book
A journey through the past, present, and future of artificial intelligence, from popular science author Cliff Pickover. From medieval robots and Boolean algebra to facial recognition, artificial neural networks, and adversarial patches, this fascinating history takes readers on a vast tour through the world of artificial intelligence. Award-winning author Clifford A. Pickover explores the historic and current applications of AI in such diverse fields as computing, medicine, popular culture, mythology, and philosophy, and considers the enduring threat to humanity should AI grow out of control. Pickover provides an entertaining and informative look into when artificial intelligence began, how it developed, where it's going, and what it means for the future of human-machine interaction.Show book
Will we choose life for our children and the future of our planet?Everywhere we look, we see signs that all is not right with our earth—extreme temperatures and weather patterns wreak havoc, pollutants sour soils and waterways, and fires and floods ravage land and communities. Climate change is just a symptom of a larger ecological crisis. If we want change, we must realize that the solutions to the problems we face can’t come through the same systems that created those problems in the first place.Ecological justice requires that we challenge our assumptions about creation and our relationship to it. It requires decolonization. We must turn to the leadership of Indigenous communities who struggle for all life as land and water protectors, and must call on people of faith to join them.This book offers hope for a better future alongside concrete actions for joining with Indigenous Peoples to protect life and negotiate with decision-makers for sustainable change that follows Jesus. In these pages, readers are called to confront climate change and choose life for our children and the future of our planet.Show book
