overview
articles by Brian O'Leary
shifting paradigms
ecology & climate change
economics & energy
transition strategies
energy throughout history
an emerging synthesis
new energy pioneers
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TRANSITION STRATEGIES
Action on Climate Change is Needed Now - and Here's the Plan What Kind of Energy Sources Do We Want? Dr. Brian O'Leary, May 2004 *It's a matter of debate. But at the very least they must be reliable, cheap, clean, safe, decentralized and publicly transparent. We must transform our institutions to facilitate the transition of energy technology into the 21st Century rather than back to the 19th and 20th Centuries. The old ways won't work anymore.* Read More Opening to New Hydrogen Energy Technologies Prepared for the World Congress for a Hydrogen Economy, November, 2001 Brian O'Leary, November 2001 Abstract: When we talk about a hydrogen economy, we generally refer to the generation of energy from the combustion of hydrogen or from its conversion to electricity through fuel cells. These approaches have been with us for well over a century and have wide appeal because of their nonpolluting nature and cost-effective operations in the long run, when compared to a fossil fuel economy. But often missing from the discussion are more advanced technologies which could make a hydrogen economy all the more appealing and avoid the large expense of creating energy intensive hydrogen production facilities and infrastructure. Read More Developing Non-polluting Energy Excerpted from Re-Inheriting the Earth, Chapter 2 Brian O'Leary, 2003 "Man has lost the capacity to foresee and forestall. He will end up destroying the earth." -Albert Schweitzer
AS A NASA astronaut appointee in the Apollo program in 1967, I felt proud to be on a team with a positive and focused vision: to land a man on the Moon and return him to Earth safely by the end of the decade. In those days I felt a sense of technological optimism, that in our enterprising wisdom, if a problem came up, we would find a solution. We in fact got there ahead of schedule and within budget. It all was a great success.
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