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Sustainable Energy - without the hot air

I heard it takes more energy to build a nuclear power plant than you ever get back from it... is that true?

Thanks for making your book available for download. I would like to pay you for it, but have no desire to have a paper copy... Can I do that?

I know you're pro nuclear power, but what are your thoughts on the risks associated with getting rid of the waste? And where do you think would be the most suitable place todispose of it? On another note - you emphasise the importance of making bigger changes, and smaller changes simply adding up to small changes. So when it comes to things like recycling, do you think it's worth the efforts? Or at least would it be if potentially everyone did their bit and minimised household waste?

why in your book do you not discuss the kite gen source of energy? (e.g. http://www.kitegen.com/index_en.html).

Your book ought to discuss solar power in deserts / heat pumps / electric vehicles / efficiency measures / how to cope with fluctuations in renewables...

thankyou for making this book available over the web. I am always conscious of the carbon cost of making paper books. It would be interesting to know if it costs more energy to read it on a computer or on a book.

What should I do in my office? I've just read your comments about leaving mobile phone chargers on whilst not charging. All very interesting stuff. I love to see media myths de-bunked! However, it seems to have rather taken the wind out of my sails. I am the CSR rep for our office and we have been tasked with reducing our carbon footprint. I'm calculating energy wastage in terms of cost and carbon emissions from the sort of everyday things I see, e.g monitors left on standby and PCs left running when not in use etc etc. I was about to do a recce round the office to see how many people have left mobile chargers left plugged in unused but now I'm wondering if there would be any point. Your experiment seemed to indicate there is no real effect, but going on the "every little bit counts" premise, would you say it is worth it in an office of fewer than 20 people? I plan to download the book when I get home and am looking forward to some interesting reading! Thanks.

I am a geophysics prof. I am now preparing a course on sustainable energy. I would like it to follow the same philosophy of your book but I need to make it relevant to the US so I am modifying some of the calculations and arguments. Do you know of anyone else adapting the book to this side of the Atlantic?

In your book you are talking about the power of sunshine falling on the earths surface. As I understand it, on page 38, you say, the power of sunshine on 1 m2 is 1000w near the equator on a clear day. Also, on page 46 there's a diagram of the average power of sunshine at different places in the world. For example, Nairobi gives 234 W/m2. When I compare those numbers with the map the European Commission has put on the internet (http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/cmaps/eur.htm), I dont understand these numbers. According to them, the solar potential is about 2000 kwh/m2 in the south of Spain. How can we compare these numbers? Also they are talking about a performance ratio of 0,75 for solar electricity. As I understand it you talk about a 20% efficiency for PV. Could you please explain the difference in these numbers?

I downloaded the 4-page executive summary and was slightly confused about the energy plans , perhaps this is deliberate to make us buy the book. I suppose I could download the book but I suggest the Executive summary could be a bit clearer.

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