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Powering the Dream

The History and Promise of Green Technology

Contributors

By Alexis Madrigal

Formats and Prices

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$10.99

Price

$13.99 CAD

Format

ebook

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ebook $10.99 $13.99 CAD

Few today realize that electric cabs dominated Manhattan’s streets in the 1890s; that Boise, Idaho, had a geothermal heating system in 1910; or that the first megawatt turbine in the world was built in 1941 by the son of publishing magnate G. P. Putnam — a feat that would not be duplicated for another forty years. Likewise, while many remember the oil embargo of the 1970s, few are aware that it led to a corresponding explosion in green-technology research that was only derailed when energy prices later dropped.

In other words: We’ve been here before. Although we may have failed, America has had the chance to put our world on a more sustainable path. Americans have, in fact, been inventing green for more than a century.

Half compendium of lost opportunities, half hopeful look toward the future, Powering the Dream tells the stories of the brilliant, often irascible inventors who foresaw our current problems, tried to invent cheap and energy renewable solutions, and drew the blueprint for a green future.

On Sale
Mar 29, 2011
Page Count
400 pages
Publisher
Da Capo Press
ISBN-13
9780306819773

Alexis Madrigal

About the Author

Alexis Madrigal is a senior editor at the Atlantic, where he launched their Technology Channel, and an award-winning former staff writer for Wired.com. He lives in Washington, DC.

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