Comments on: Book review: Tom Rand, Kick The Fossil Fuel Habit

By: CVS

CVS — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:54:37 +0000

I think the point of the book was missed in some of these comments and the review. It’s clearly a coffee table book, not a text book. The book provides a simplified, yet thorough, outline of what clean technologies are available to us and why we need to make the switch now. It provides a medium that like Glomerol quoted “my four year old gets it”. If remove all you biases and just read the book, you can’t help but think “well it just makes sense”. So yes in some ways, it may “sound too good to be true” and yes the issues discussed are way more complex in real life, however, that’s not the point of the book. It simply provides information in an easy-to-understand manner. If you want to understand the complexities behind why we aren’t making this switch…read it elsewhere…look at the news…this book isn’t the answer, it just has solutions.

By: Zach Anaya

Zach Anaya — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:18:35 +0000

I agree with Jeff here. Most of the technology in the book has been well-researched and is in use all over the world. Yes, there are some expensive costs associated with some projects, but there are also lots of worthwhile opportunities. I am in a graduate level sustainable systems program that teaches all the fundamentals including the physics and thermodynamics behind these processes and I can assure you they are for real. Heck, google search geothermal and you’ll see how possible it is to drill holes in the ground and use it to supplement heat.

This book is an excellent overview on sustainable ways to overcome fossil fuels. Take some time to look at it and do some other research before doubting the information.

By: Ucuz sunucu barindirma

Ucuz sunucu barindirma — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 01:11:32 +0000

Ucuz sunucu barindirma…

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By: Jeff Wills

Jeff Wills — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 14:57:29 +0000

Wow. What a useless review. If it sounds too good, it probably is? You could say that about any new technology ever introduced. If someone explained the technology behind cell phones twenty years ago, you would most likely have been the one to say “sounds good, but it’ll never work”. I have to wonder whether you actually read the book or not because every technology that is discussed in the book has been tried and proven. The point of the book is that it will be expensive, but necessary. Again, like all technologies, the more extensively it’s adopted, the cheaper it will get. If you want to dispute the claims he makes, why don’t you actually do a bit of research and dispute them with facts rather than with useless pessimism? Or did you – to no avail? I appreciate pessimism. I am a pessimist myself, but my pessimism stems from reviews like this and what it perpetuates. I have no reason to dispute any of the claims made by Mr. Rand and unless you give me a real reason to, I will recommend this book as insightful, well written and beautifully presented.

By: Glomerol

Glomerol — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 21:13:13 +0000

This is a copy of my post at YouTube at Rand’s book site, which some child or someone who needs a few clues has flagged as spam:

“Quote from a quote (or similar) from the book:
‘When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened.’
(-John M. Richardson, Jr.?)

Here’s mine for fun:
‘When it comes to the future, there are some who let it happen, some who wonder what happened, and those who make a mess of it.’

justicedante wrote:
‘My four year old gets it.’

How about Bill Mollison?”

I far and away recommend Bill Mollison over Tom Rand.

By: Tania Samsonova

Tania Samsonova — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 02:15:47 +0000

Chris, thank you for your comment! I would really want to believe what Tom Rand says, and he sounds credible, with all his experience and credentials and all. But if this is indeed such a simple and clear-cut case, someone would have picked it up and implemented it a long time ago.

Let’s see what happens with this green hotel Tom is now building. (I’d rather love to know what happens in the neighbourhood where geothermal exchange is implemented in many houses instead of one or two; what are the long-term consequences for the soil, its inhabitants (insects, bacteria) and the vegetation, for example?

By: Chris Lau

Chris Lau — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:20:15 +0000

These are certainly words to live by: “if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is” -

A healthy dose of skepticism is almost a requirement now. If you look at the solar power “science” the economics of it is based largely on government subsidy. See First solar, for example.

That’s where venture cap fits in. Maybe a company needs seed funding to get started, or needs subsidy…but for how long? And will it pay off? In the case of solar power, the cost/mW keeps declining (comparable to coal energy) but so does the sales per unit for these companies. That right now is THE challenge in the solar power industry.

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Thu, 22 Apr 2010 06:17:01 +0000

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