thloto -c U o F q o. o a. o. X d U E o tt A (, >1. LP Ft -l;.d+! p; .., \ il P-' choices are narrowing rapidly. "Within a cenrury or so, fossil fuels will be a declining or nearly expended resource. Everything we examined * in the course of this.study suggests " gr."t uncertainty about what we do after the foisil fueli run out. Unless some totally new rechnology appears of which at present we have no idea, there are essentialiy two choices. One is an energy furure dominated by the nuclear breeder and/or nuclear fusion, with solar energy.playing a secondary though importanr role. The other is a future in which society has rejected dependence on nuclear energy and has opted instead for primary dependence on solar energy with a stabilized level of energy use far less than presently projected levels. There are no other optio;s. "lt is vitally important rhat the narion's energy policy not turn our to have been like the judgment olthe man who, having fallen from a tenih-floor window was heard to say as he plunged pasr the second floor, "I'm in good shape so far." It is possible to insure against thar cvenruality by encouraging the growing use of solar energy and supporting -eisureito use energy more judiciously. It would appear that the nation has the resilience to navigate-gracefully this new course." _- If the solar laggards don'r come around after reading Denis Hayes, try this government-funded scenario-ing on 'eml (Suggested by Bill Rice, ERDA) Enair^onmentaily A?proprilte Tecbnologr : Renewable Energr an d^O t b e r D e u e I o p in g Te-c b n o I o gi e s fo rV C o n s e ra er S o ci e ty* i1 Canada, by Bruce McCallum, April t922,160 pp., $3.2i in Canada, $4 other countries, ask foi CatalogNo. En. IO2-l/lS (rsBN 0-660-0too3-8): Publishing Centre Supply & Services Canada 270 Albert St. Ottawa, KIA OS9, Canada 'I'here's a little trick of the trade we use sometimes here at RAIN to help us sift the New Age wheat from industrial era chaff. We take a project.reporr, i publication or a proposal, turn to so-me parr of it that we,re likely to really know a Iot about and simply check out that partiiular irem or area for accuracy, com.prehensiveness and whatever else is important. Like whether it has a smallness, decentralisr or local self_ reliance orientation, or whether it's just more of that gov't_ corporate-academic shuck_'n jive thai basically enslavei people rather than empowering them. So me, I turn ro rhe wind energy section of E.A.T. Not o4y -tl it up-to-date, mentioning tlhe 2MW Tvind machine now a-building in Denmark (can a cc.mmunity college beat out the technocrars at NASA-ERDA? What's this worli coming to?), but Bruce also reaches the same conclusions in his covJ.age of the 200kw Gedser that I did in ',Wise Wind: Designing foi Jobs" (April '77 RAIN). He srares "they could Ue Uuiit almosr entirely by craftsmen, as opposed ro high rechnology engineer_ ing firms. About 80% of the cost of the]r machines was ior labor." 7O-75% was what I got. But this book covers solar, hydro, biomass-wood energies, Ir y.ll .t housing, industry, agricukure and transportari;, and all very comprehensively. It,s a bargain at $4, even witirout 1fy lllfour pages explaining how alt tlis .nui.onrn.n,-energy_ a.t. stutf came about-how those of us hanging out here got "' here from somewhere. Excellent philosophical and technical perspecrive. Highly re-commended, especially for Americans in the northern'rie; ol states-Washington, Montana, Minnesota, New york, Massachusetts, Maine-whose situations are similar to those of southern Canadians. The latter will find this book a moneysaving intro to their own solar transition. Good work, Bruce, and take a big, deep breath for me on those prince Edward Island meadows. -Lee Johnson
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