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                            Solar-Energy Update:
              Good News about Solar Energy & Energy-Efficiency

        by John W. Gofman, M.D., Ph.D., and Egan O'Connor.  Fall 1997.

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                  [I am your sunshine your only sunshine]


         a  *  In May 1997, a wonderful book about progress in
     solar energy and energy-efficiency was published:   Charging
     Ahead:   The Business of Renewable Energy and What It Means for
     America, by John J. Berger, Ph.D. (398 pages; Holt & Co.;   $30;
     <www.charging-ahead.com>. It can be bought directly from
     1-800-288-2131 or 1-800-544-4565). The book seems to confirm what
     CNR asserted in 1974:   All of humanity (not just a small fraction
     of it) could be affluent WITHOUT using nuclear power and fossil
     fuels. Back then, CNR quoted the late, great chemist, Dr.
     Farrington Daniels, who had written in 1970:

         b  *  "Solar energy is amply adequate for all the
     conceivable energy needs of the world. It is harmless and it is
     certain to work ... Surely solar energy will be important within
     20 years, and if enough financial support should become available,
     the time could be considerably less."

         c  *  Berger's book is a believable, fully-sourced, easily
     readable update about progress in most solar energy and
     energy-efficiency technologies (with addresses and contacts). It
     is also a gripping drama which relates the gambles, ups and downs,
     and personal comments of the major inventors. The mystery:   What
     slows up adoption of these popular, proven, renewable
     technologies? This book explains --- and could empower the public
     to remove those obstacles. Dr. Berger has done a monumental public
     service. His book (selected for listing by Science News Books)
     belongs in the hands of every owner of a home or building, every
     person who dislikes smog and oil-wars and nuclear pollution, and
     in every college, high school, and public library.

         d  *  Please note: Under a system of Adversary Science we
     would expect no exemption for solar energy. Who would NOT want an
     early-warning system, in case the enthusiasts fail to foresee a
     deadly side-effect from one of the many solar choices?

         e  *  The solar energy which reaches Earth is distributed
     approximately as follows (adapted from Dr. M. King Hubbert,
     Scientific American, Sept. 1971):

         * 30% is reflected back to space without entering the
           ecosphere.

         * 47% converts to heat in the atmosphere, oceans, and on land,
           and provides the enormous kinetic energy of wind, waves, and
           ocean currents.
 
         * 23% drives the planet's water-cycle (evaporation,
           precipitation) and the photosynthetic chemical process of
           plants.
 
         * The reason that Earth does not accumulate energy daily is
           because ALL the incoming energy is eventually degraded to
           heat and re-radiated to space.




                                 # # # # #



                 Committee for Nuclear Responsibility, Inc.
           Post Office Box 421993, San Francisco, CA 94142, USA.
             Internet:  http://www.ratical.org/radiation/CNR/
                       An educational group since 1971.               



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