Review of The Future of Buildings, Transportation and Power
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Angelina Souren
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- Latest Review: The Future of Buildings, Transportation and Power by Roger Duncan and Michael E. Webber
Review of The Future of Buildings, Transportation and Power
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Future of Buildings, Transportation and Power" by Roger Duncan and Michael E. Webber.]
The Future of Buildings, Transportation and Power provides the reader with a very thorough discussion of the developments in construction, transport and energy. The authors – Roger Duncan and Michael E. Webber – are clearly highly knowledgeable and have researched any details that they may initially not have been intimately familiar with so well that readers cannot tell.
This book is very well-written and clearly carefully edited. That makes it a pleasure to read. It is accessible and while it contains a lot of information that many will be already familiar with at the authors have attempted to be as complete and thoughtful as possible, there are enough sudden surprises to make a person want to keep reading.
For example, I had not been aware yet of the option of 3D-printing homes and other buildings from construction waste, to create homes and buildings that themselves are recyclable too. Neither did I know that the mining of REEs and lithium mining at this point in time is still cheaper than recycling. That’s astonishing. This is important for policymakers; the recycling of these materials needs to receive a big push and this can be done through grants and subsidies.
I would have liked to see more information on the process of converting construction waste into feedstocks for the 3D printing process, in other words, on what exactly happens in the WinSun factories mentioned on page 39. Also, there are one or two style flaws in the foreword and the Covid preamble. The phrase “as best as” (page V) is grammatically incorrect though its use is becoming increasingly common and the second word “as” is missing. The paragraphs about the IEA and the EIA alphabet soup (page XIV) are slightly clumsy.
In addition, I failed to see anything mentioned about the future of salinity gradient energy (also called “blue energy” or ”osmotic power”), which is a very elegant way of generating energy at any location where freshwater meets saltwater. The two flows are fed past each other and separated by a membrane; either water molecules or salt ions then start migrating. The technology still has its challenges, but is certainly not without merit. Norway, the Netherlands and Australia are example of areas where researchers have looked into this form of power production.
What I also missed with regard to the impact of wind energy harvesting on particularly birds is the information that newer wind turbines have technology in place that can prevent bird strikes such as happened in the Netherlands in May 2021 (causing the death of a bearded vulture). This is perhaps because The Future of Buildings, Transportation and Power is a book about technological developments rather than about their environmental impacts. It is necessary, however, to look at technological developments from every conceivable angle because we can no longer afford to do otherwise. The future of the planet, hence of the human species, is at stake. This is part of the reason why there is now also research into the decommissioning of wind turbines, which is a brand-new field with challenges of its own; I happen to know that a PhD student at the University of Portsmouth, England is working on that topic.
That said, I have no hesitation in giving The Future of Buildings, Transportation and Power 4 stars out of 4. It is not only well written and a pleasure to read, but it is also very thorough (in spite of what I say about environmental impacts; that is simply not the main topic of the book that the authors set out to write). I commend the authors (along with the publisher) for their thoroughly professional approach.
The Future of Buildings, Transportation and Power is a fascinating book and suitable for all readers interested in the world around them, academics and lay people alike. It is not necessary to have detailed existing knowledge of the construction world, the field of energy or the transportation realm. I, for example, have an earth and life science background. While I know some things about transportation from having edited papers on the topic, know a little about energy generation and take an interest in learning about new building styles such as the “Passive House” approach, I am by no means an expert in any of these areas.
******
The Future of Buildings, Transportation and Power
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
The Future of Buildings, Transportation and Power provides the reader with a very thorough discussion of the developments in construction, transport and energy. The authors – Roger Duncan and Michael E. Webber – are clearly highly knowledgeable and have researched any details that they may initially not have been intimately familiar with so well that readers cannot tell.
This book is very well-written and clearly carefully edited. That makes it a pleasure to read. It is accessible and while it contains a lot of information that many will be already familiar with at the authors have attempted to be as complete and thoughtful as possible, there are enough sudden surprises to make a person want to keep reading.
For example, I had not been aware yet of the option of 3D-printing homes and other buildings from construction waste, to create homes and buildings that themselves are recyclable too. Neither did I know that the mining of REEs and lithium mining at this point in time is still cheaper than recycling. That’s astonishing. This is important for policymakers; the recycling of these materials needs to receive a big push and this can be done through grants and subsidies.
I would have liked to see more information on the process of converting construction waste into feedstocks for the 3D printing process, in other words, on what exactly happens in the WinSun factories mentioned on page 39. Also, there are one or two style flaws in the foreword and the Covid preamble. The phrase “as best as” (page V) is grammatically incorrect though its use is becoming increasingly common and the second word “as” is missing. The paragraphs about the IEA and the EIA alphabet soup (page XIV) are slightly clumsy.
In addition, I failed to see anything mentioned about the future of salinity gradient energy (also called “blue energy” or ”osmotic power”), which is a very elegant way of generating energy at any location where freshwater meets saltwater. The two flows are fed past each other and separated by a membrane; either water molecules or salt ions then start migrating. The technology still has its challenges, but is certainly not without merit. Norway, the Netherlands and Australia are example of areas where researchers have looked into this form of power production.
What I also missed with regard to the impact of wind energy harvesting on particularly birds is the information that newer wind turbines have technology in place that can prevent bird strikes such as happened in the Netherlands in May 2021 (causing the death of a bearded vulture). This is perhaps because The Future of Buildings, Transportation and Power is a book about technological developments rather than about their environmental impacts. It is necessary, however, to look at technological developments from every conceivable angle because we can no longer afford to do otherwise. The future of the planet, hence of the human species, is at stake. This is part of the reason why there is now also research into the decommissioning of wind turbines, which is a brand-new field with challenges of its own; I happen to know that a PhD student at the University of Portsmouth, England is working on that topic.
That said, I have no hesitation in giving The Future of Buildings, Transportation and Power 4 stars out of 4. It is not only well written and a pleasure to read, but it is also very thorough (in spite of what I say about environmental impacts; that is simply not the main topic of the book that the authors set out to write). I commend the authors (along with the publisher) for their thoroughly professional approach.
The Future of Buildings, Transportation and Power is a fascinating book and suitable for all readers interested in the world around them, academics and lay people alike. It is not necessary to have detailed existing knowledge of the construction world, the field of energy or the transportation realm. I, for example, have an earth and life science background. While I know some things about transportation from having edited papers on the topic, know a little about energy generation and take an interest in learning about new building styles such as the “Passive House” approach, I am by no means an expert in any of these areas.
******
The Future of Buildings, Transportation and Power
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
