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Energy in Nature and Society: General Energetics of Complex Systems
A comprehensive, systematic, analytically unified, and interdisciplinary treatment of energy in nature and society, from solar radiation and photosynthesis to our fossil fuelled civilization and its environmental consequences. Energy in Nature and Society is a systematic and exhaustive analysis of all the major energy sources, storages, flows, and conversions that have shaped the evolution of the biosphere and civilization. Vaclav Smil uses fundamental unifying metrics (most notably for power density and energy intensity) to provide an integrated framework for analyzing all segments of energetics (the study of energy flows and their transformations). The book explores not only planetary energetics (such as solar radiation and geomorphic processes) and bioenergetics (photosynthesis, for example) but also human energetics (such as metabolism and thermoregulation), tracing them from hunter-gatherer and agricultural societies through modern-day industrial civilization. Included are chapters on heterotrophic conversions, traditional agriculture, preindustrial complexification, fossil fuels, fossil-fueled civilization, the energetics of food, and the implications of energetics for the environment. The book concludes with an examination of general patterns, trends, and socioeconomic considerations of energy use today, looking at correlations between energy and value, energy and the economy, energy and quality of life, and energy futures. Throughout the book, Smil chooses to emphasize the complexities and peculiarities of the real world, and the counterintuitive outcomes of many of its processes, over abstract models. Energy in Nature and Society provides a unique, comprehensive, single-volume analysis and reference source on all important energy matters, from natural to industrial energy flows, from fuels to food, from the Earth's formation to possible energy futures, and can serve as a text for courses in energy studies, global ecology, earth systems science, biology, and chemistry.
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First published December 21, 2007
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About the author
Vaclav Smil
75 books4,315 followersVaclav Smil is a Czech-Canadian scientist and policy analyst whose work spans energy, environment, food, population, economics, history, and public policy. Educated at Charles University in Prague and later at Pennsylvania State University, where he earned his Ph.D. in geography, Smil emigrated from Czechoslovakia to the United States in 1969 following the Soviet invasion, before beginning his long academic career at the University of Manitoba in 1972. Over the decades he established himself as a leading voice on global energy systems, environmental change, and economic development, with particular attention to China. Smil has consistently argued that transitions to renewable energy will be gradual rather than rapid, emphasizing the persistence of coal, oil, and natural gas and highlighting the difficulties of decarbonizing critical industries such as steel, cement, ammonia, and plastics. He has also been skeptical of indefinite economic growth, suggesting that human consumption could be sustained at much lower levels of material and energy use. Widely admired for his clear, data-driven analyses, Smil counts Bill Gates among his readers, while colleagues have praised his rigor and independence. Known for his reclusiveness and preference for letting his books speak for him, he has nonetheless lectured extensively worldwide and consulted for major institutions. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the Order of Canada, Smil remains a highly influential public intellectual.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 29, 2009
updated 2009-01-29 15:43:27 EST: not finished yet, but will be after classes. wow, wow, wow, this book is so incredibly awesome and touches me so deeply. why isn't vaclav smil president of some major nation (and what's up with Czechoslovakia having so many presidents named vaclav?)? BECAUSE HE'S TOO DAMN BUSY BEING THE FINEST SCIENTIFIC AUTHOR IN THE WORLD, THAT'S WHY. this book is so dense with beautiful, connective information as to make me sing. you can find the preface online; i urge you (all 107 of you -- come, gather round Uncle Nick as he opens the Great Book of Energy Balances) to read at least this excerpt:
Energy is the only life and is
from the Body;
and Reason is the bound or outward
circumference of Energy.
-Energy is Eternal Delight.
William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1793)
Energy's definition in Blake's poem comes from the Devil, as he corrects what he feels to be one of the principal errors of sacred codes, namely, "That Energy, call'd Evil, is alone from the Body; & that Reason, call'd Good, is alone from the Soul." This book is preoccupied with more pragmatic and less contentious propositions, but it too owes its existence to fascination with energy's elusive qualities....
At the same time, this is also a very personal book. My fascination with energetics has been going on for more than 40 years, and new topics keep coming into closer focus. My interest in planetary energy flows and in bioenergetics started with university studies of climatology, geomorphology, zoology, and ecology, and these fields were soon augmented by work on energy economics, coal mining, and power plant engineering. Principal themes of my published energy research have been, chronologically, thermal electricity generation, acid deposition, coal mining, and internationalization of energy supply in the 1960s; atmospheric CO2 modeling, evolution and forecasting of energy techniques, energy-economy correlations, and energy in China and other poor populous countries in the 1970s; biomass energies, grand biospheric cycles, energy analysis in agriculture, energy in agriculture and in human nutrition, energy in world history, and global dimensions of energetics in the 1980s and 1990s; and during the first years of a new millennium, energy’s role in the creation and transformation of modern civilization.
A strong commonality tying these interests has been my fascination with unruly and fuzzy realities in preference to abstract models and dubious generalizations. Complexities and peculiarities of the real world and counterintuitive outcomes of many of its processes have seemed to me always more appealing than theoretical models. This preference requires a from-the-ground-up approach where gradual understanding of details and cumulative acquisition of the widest possible scope of information precedes any attempts at generalization. Inevitably, this book is marked by these interests and biases, but I have done my best to offer a balanced and comprehensive treatment free of excessive indulgence in favorite topics.
The aims are broad interdisciplinary coverage, richness of detail, clear analyses, syntheses rooted in the presented information, and commonsense generalizations. The means is a systematic and evolutionary account, but one whose boundaries and flavors are also clearly influenced by my scientific background, preferences, and lifelong fascinations and inclinations. The book takes just one of many possible routes to better understanding of energy in nature and in human societies, and its inherent sweep and complexity mean that it cannot be devoid of lapses and errors. But even if it were to fall far short of its ambitious mark, there is, as always, consolation in the wisdom of an ancient sage. Lao Zi, noting that it is void space that makes bowls and houses useful, wrote,
So advantage is had
From whatever is there;
But usefulness rises
From whatever is not.
freakin' awesome!!!
Amazon 2009-01-25. I'm going ahead and picking up everything of Vaclav Smil's save obvious pop science -- the man's the finest geophysicist and earth scientist writing today. His The Earth's Biosphere was magnificent, the best treatment I've seen of the subject to date. I hear wonderful things about Energy in Nature and Society, and can't wait to tear into it. When and if I head north for my PhD at MIT or Harvard, I'd definitely like to hang out with him for a lunch or two.
Energy is the only life and is
from the Body;
and Reason is the bound or outward
circumference of Energy.
-Energy is Eternal Delight.
William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1793)
Energy's definition in Blake's poem comes from the Devil, as he corrects what he feels to be one of the principal errors of sacred codes, namely, "That Energy, call'd Evil, is alone from the Body; & that Reason, call'd Good, is alone from the Soul." This book is preoccupied with more pragmatic and less contentious propositions, but it too owes its existence to fascination with energy's elusive qualities....
At the same time, this is also a very personal book. My fascination with energetics has been going on for more than 40 years, and new topics keep coming into closer focus. My interest in planetary energy flows and in bioenergetics started with university studies of climatology, geomorphology, zoology, and ecology, and these fields were soon augmented by work on energy economics, coal mining, and power plant engineering. Principal themes of my published energy research have been, chronologically, thermal electricity generation, acid deposition, coal mining, and internationalization of energy supply in the 1960s; atmospheric CO2 modeling, evolution and forecasting of energy techniques, energy-economy correlations, and energy in China and other poor populous countries in the 1970s; biomass energies, grand biospheric cycles, energy analysis in agriculture, energy in agriculture and in human nutrition, energy in world history, and global dimensions of energetics in the 1980s and 1990s; and during the first years of a new millennium, energy’s role in the creation and transformation of modern civilization.
A strong commonality tying these interests has been my fascination with unruly and fuzzy realities in preference to abstract models and dubious generalizations. Complexities and peculiarities of the real world and counterintuitive outcomes of many of its processes have seemed to me always more appealing than theoretical models. This preference requires a from-the-ground-up approach where gradual understanding of details and cumulative acquisition of the widest possible scope of information precedes any attempts at generalization. Inevitably, this book is marked by these interests and biases, but I have done my best to offer a balanced and comprehensive treatment free of excessive indulgence in favorite topics.
The aims are broad interdisciplinary coverage, richness of detail, clear analyses, syntheses rooted in the presented information, and commonsense generalizations. The means is a systematic and evolutionary account, but one whose boundaries and flavors are also clearly influenced by my scientific background, preferences, and lifelong fascinations and inclinations. The book takes just one of many possible routes to better understanding of energy in nature and in human societies, and its inherent sweep and complexity mean that it cannot be devoid of lapses and errors. But even if it were to fall far short of its ambitious mark, there is, as always, consolation in the wisdom of an ancient sage. Lao Zi, noting that it is void space that makes bowls and houses useful, wrote,
So advantage is had
From whatever is there;
But usefulness rises
From whatever is not.
freakin' awesome!!!
Amazon 2009-01-25. I'm going ahead and picking up everything of Vaclav Smil's save obvious pop science -- the man's the finest geophysicist and earth scientist writing today. His The Earth's Biosphere was magnificent, the best treatment I've seen of the subject to date. I hear wonderful things about Energy in Nature and Society, and can't wait to tear into it. When and if I head north for my PhD at MIT or Harvard, I'd definitely like to hang out with him for a lunch or two.
March 7, 2011
This is an ambitious but accessible introduction to a holistic anatomy of energy flows in both the past and present. It is also, I think, a good entry point into Smil's vast collection of energy-related books, if one is not sure where to begin.
Smil has a great gift for explaining a plethora (and I mean plethora) of technical concepts in a lively, clear and concise manner to the non-technically trained reader. There are boatloads of numbers and figures in the text, but these have been inserted mainly to illustrate a concept. The book digests easier if one keeps this in mind while reading. Because the book is so well structured from top to bottom, it makes for a useful reference guide (most people will probably prefer using it this way, given reading time constraints).
It appears that there are significant overlaps between this book and some of Smil's other work. For example, several key parts of General Energetics have been expanded on in 'Prime Movers' (2010), and this current work also seems to have re-used some content from his 'Energy at the Crossroads' (2003). Proofreading was also a bit sloppy: parts of General Energetics contain obvious grammatical errors and missing words.
In addition, those hoping to find accounts of possible futures, such as those involving distributed generation systems and societal restructuring, will be disappointed at how briefly Smil treats these issues, especially given how much he obviously knows about what is feasible and what isn't at a technical systems level (pp. 356-63). Maybe these are covered in more detail in his other work?
With those caveats in mind, this volume is still highly recommended both for those seeking a technical introduction to energy flows, as well as researchers and writers who would like to double-check their assumptions about energy systems.
Smil has a great gift for explaining a plethora (and I mean plethora) of technical concepts in a lively, clear and concise manner to the non-technically trained reader. There are boatloads of numbers and figures in the text, but these have been inserted mainly to illustrate a concept. The book digests easier if one keeps this in mind while reading. Because the book is so well structured from top to bottom, it makes for a useful reference guide (most people will probably prefer using it this way, given reading time constraints).
It appears that there are significant overlaps between this book and some of Smil's other work. For example, several key parts of General Energetics have been expanded on in 'Prime Movers' (2010), and this current work also seems to have re-used some content from his 'Energy at the Crossroads' (2003). Proofreading was also a bit sloppy: parts of General Energetics contain obvious grammatical errors and missing words.
In addition, those hoping to find accounts of possible futures, such as those involving distributed generation systems and societal restructuring, will be disappointed at how briefly Smil treats these issues, especially given how much he obviously knows about what is feasible and what isn't at a technical systems level (pp. 356-63). Maybe these are covered in more detail in his other work?
With those caveats in mind, this volume is still highly recommended both for those seeking a technical introduction to energy flows, as well as researchers and writers who would like to double-check their assumptions about energy systems.
Want to read
January 23, 2010treatise on how energy drives all (and surprisingly has been misappropriated by new-agey crackpots)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews