The challenges facing the 21st century are staggering: rapidly increasing population, mounting social instability due to global imbalances of wealth and welfare, resource scarcity and resulting conflicts related to their exploitation and distribution, and certainly the ongoing distress of the environment as a whole. Such severe conditions, including climate change, continue to become greater in number, complexity, and clarity, even though most of them had already been introduced as areas of concern in the 1970s and 1980s. The book describes potential strategies that will play an essential role in curbing carbon emissions, reducing - or replacing - fossil fuel usage. To better understand the current global energy industry, the book is unique in showing energy consumption data across the globe in comparable units, and it explains how fossil fuels could be replaced by renewable energy resources.

Preface

Introduction

Part 1

1 The greenhouse effect

2 Fossil energy sources,renewable energy

3 Energy cost

4 Energy consumpition of selected world regions(IEA 2004)

5 Detail view:Germany-case study

6 Detailed view:Switzerland

7 Detailed view:France

8 Global energy scenarios

Part 2

9 Building for the post-fossil fuel era

10 Real estate of the future-post-fossil fuel buildings

11 Small is beautiful!Exemplary small-scale projects

12 Zero-energy super-tall buildings:vision or illusion?

Part 3

13 Utilizing renewable energies

14 Energy storage

15 Conclusion

Company profiles

Illustration credits

Bibliography

Index

Imprint