Customer Reviews

The Solar Hydrogen Civilization: The Future of Energy Is the Future of Our Global Economy

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book bills itself in the introduction as a "must read for everyone in America." I generally don't like such statements but must admit that in this case it is proper. Roy McAlister is a fully credentialed scientist who obviously knows what he is talking about. It is not the best written book by a long shot (thus the 3 star rating) but the content and ideas more than make up the difference. It is a detailed, provocative look at our foolish reliance on fossil fuels and how we can transform our civilization with the use of 'Solar Hydrogen'. McAlister rightly gets into the philosophy as well as the mechanics of using hydrogen fuel. Read this book if you want an insight into what had better be our future energy use. Read this book and discover what you can do to help realise this vision.

I have been studying alternative energy for over 20 years. Back in the 70's & 80's I got involved with passive solar & ethanol production. Eventually I became an architect to help "save the world". I eventually jumped on the hydrogen band wagon a few years ago & jumped back off when I realized it was mostly hype.
Lately I have been experimenting with biodiesel & am trying to get into straight vegitable oil as fuel.

This book has renewed my interest in hydrogen. Solar & wind generated hydrogen makes perfect sense. Roy really knows his stuff & he explains the technicalities in a way most people can understand. A more advanced person may not find much new information. Of particular interest to me was the section on parabolic mirror collectors heating sterling engines to produce electricity. The electricity could be used to generate hydrogen from water or other mediums.

Roy explains in very simple terms how we could convert many of our existing infastructures into hydrogen supporting infastructures. In the end the book has given me hope and renewed my interest in sustainability.

A good book if you plan to get an insight on renewable subjects. In fact, I think this book should be an obligatory students book in a world that seems to be in an hypnoptical party thought to last forever.

Concepts are very balanced and demistifying, not just hydrogen tecnologies.

On my personal experience it was not wat I expected, because I think it's a book about economy, it just will give you plenty of tables, charts, and historical info about our confused society, and will let you see on your very own, that a lot of things on the world are wrong because of manipulated interests. Don't expect to build anything based on this book.

I really enjoyed this book. It shows the possiblity of creating an infrastructure here in the US to become completely energy independant. It won't be easy due to special interests, but could come about from grass roots efforts. By becoming energy independent, all the money spent overseas will now stay in the US and create an economy that does good rather than harm. Solar energy parks, hydrogen generation via electolyzers run off solar energy, internal combustion engine conversion (minus emissions which actually clean the air), and lots more ideas are covered. This is a book on ideas and it is up to the little buy to start small and make things happen. One person can make a difference. This book has gotten me interested in hydrogen and fuel cells. I am in the process of building a small fuel cell car experiment kit and then I want to experiment on my lawnmower.

While the book is not the most well written book nor does it give any real starting points on building your own hydrogen generating device/facility nor hydrogen burning engine/fuel cell, it is still a must read for every one who can read as a starting point for what needs to be done to begin the process of energy independence from fossil fuels.

Roy does a very good job of explaining hydrogen production and the various methods that can be used to create it. He also does a very good job of explaining the need for renewable energy and how it could have 'anti-inflationary' effects if we spent the money on that instead of wasting it on non-renewable fossil fuels that could be put to better use in manufacturing.

Overall it was a good book and I did learn a few things reading it.

I would recommend reading another book after this called 'The Hype about Hydrogen' that will point out some of the drawbacks to hydrogen.