Taming the Sun

Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet

By: Varun Sivaram

Narrated by: Barry Abrams

Solar energy, once a niche application for a limited market, has become the cheapest and fastest-growing power source on earth. What's more, its potential is nearly limitless. But in Taming the Sun, energy expert Varun Sivaram warns that the world is not yet equipped to harness erratic sunshine to meet most of its energy needs. And if solar's current surge peters out, prospects for replacing fossil fuels and averting catastrophic climate change will dim.

Innovation can brighten those prospects, Sivaram explains. Financial innovation is already enticing deep-pocketed investors to fund solar projects around the world. Technological innovation could replace today's solar panels with coatings as cheap as paint and employ artificial photosynthesis to store intermittent sunshine as convenient fuels. And systemic innovation could add flexibility to the world's power grids and other energy systems, so they can dependably channel the sun's unreliable energy.

Unleashing all this innovation will require visionary public policy: funding researchers developing next-generation solar technologies, refashioning energy systems and economic markets, and putting together a diverse clean energy portfolio. Although solar can't power the planet by itself, it can be the centerpiece of a global clean energy revolution.

©2018 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (P)2018 Tantor

Too broad of an oversight for my liking but ok

the performance was great. the story covers a lot of political and statistical data surrounding clean energy and hypothetics for application on a massive scale.

Great, quite thick

Incredibly thorough. Covers tech, finance, politics, and more. Extremely comprehensive and certainly helps the listening experience to have a background in science.

Important, Comprehensive Details about Solar Power

Everything anyone might want to know about solar power is in this book. The science, the economics, the politics, and everything else about solar power are explained well. It's reasonably well written but a bit dry. The reader, though, could be a lot better.

Good overview

Nice broad overview of solar energy and related topics. I was expecting a boring book, but it exceeded my expectations.

different angle. good insight

got a little long and dated in las 4 chapters. worth a list. how many more words. is this 16