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Prescription for the Planet: The Painless Remedy for Our Energy & Environmental Crises | 
 enlarge | Author: Tom Blees
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing
Category: Book
Buy New: $25.00
New (4) from $25.00
Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 29198
Media: Paperback
Pages: 422
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 1.1
ISBN: 1419655825
Dewey Decimal Number: 531
EAN: 9781419655821
ASIN: 1419655825
Publication Date: September 16, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
An end to greenhouse gas emissions, a global framework to control nuclear proliferation, a preemptive remedy to looming water wars, and unlimited energy worldwide are just a few of the concrete solutions offered up in Tom Blees's brilliant and timely Prescription for the Planet. Everyone is worried about global warming, energy wars, resource depletion, and air pollution. But nobody has yet come up with a real plan to resolve these problems that can actually work-until now. Prescription for the Planet proposes a workable blueprint to virtually eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of this century and solve a host of other seemingly intractable global problems. Solving our planet's most pressing dilemmas requires more than simply setting goals. We need a roadmap to reach them. Technologies that work fine on a small scale cannot necessarily be ramped up to global size. Worldwide environmental and social problems require a bold vision for the future that includes feasible planet-wide solutions with all the details. Prescription for the Planet explains how a trio of little-known yet profoundly revolutionary technologies, coupled with their judicious use in an atmosphere of global cooperation, can be the springboard that carries humanity to an era beyond scarcity. And with competition for previously scarce resources no longer an issue, the main incentives for warfare will be eliminated. Explaining not only the means to solve our most pressing problems but how those solutions can painlessly lead to improving the standard of living of everyone on the planet, Blees's lucid and provocatively written Prescription for the Planet has arrived not a moment too soon. There is something here for everyone, be they a policymaker, environmental activist, or any concerned citizen hoping for a better future.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
tom speaks for logic November 4, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book of Tom Blees is bound to anger people on both sides of the fence. The radical greens will be angry at his support for nuclear power, and the radical libertarians will be angry at his support for public management of electric power production.
What Tom speaks for is people in the middle, like you and me - people who are deeply worried about the environmental and energy crises that we find ourselves in. In the course of his book, Tom manages to convince us that the solution is near at hand. What we need is coordinated political will.
None of the technologies that Tom describes are rocket science.. they are the logical conclusion of several decades of research efforts. We have no excuse to look at them with awe and disbelief.
1) Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) has been the largest research project undertaking by the US government. It has been a spectacular success. It is only logical that we should consider its merits in resolving our energy crisis. When we pay attention, we will realize that we have a means of electricity production that is cheaper than coal, that does not produce any waste, and that never runs out of fuel. In fact, newclear power (as coined by Tom) wins the race as the source of electricity with the least environmental impact, not just in dollar costs.
2) Boron fuel cells are an excellent choice for running the transport sector. For one thing, Boron makes an ideal energy carrier because its energy density per volume and the energy density per weight is amongst the highest in the chemicals that we know. Purely for this reason, it has been used in rocket ignition since the Korean wars. Serendipitously, Boron is also very inert and extremely easy to handle, unlike Hydrogen.
3) Plasma converters have been steadily making progress for several years. They have already reached the break-even point when it is actually profitable to build them. When we have them up and running, we have the best method for recycling our garbage (no more landfills) and the best method to produce biofuels (syngas) which will replace all our petrol needs for plastics, fertilizers and so on.
In a world spread rife with misinformation and madness, Tom speaks for logic. Buy the book and read it, so that you can later tell your grandchildren that you have been at the forefront of the revolution.
Gold in the dross. October 24, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
BOOK REVIEW;
PRESCRIPTION FOR THE PLANET.
By Tom Blees.
This book is a strange and unusual mixture
of 50% that is valuable and important marred by
50% of what can only be described as largely
irrelevant dross. The dross comprises the
introduction of a "boron"' economy as a principal
element - a whole chapter - when it has not even
reached the earliest stage of demonstration; one-sided
scaremongering about climate change when
reasoned debate is still the main need; and,
often, a climate and language hard to distinguish
from Marxist fellow-traveling. In complete
contrast, making the case that the nuclear fast
breeder offers the world virtually unlimited
CO2-free energy for centuries and discussing
the mainly political impediments is very well
done. Buy the book and read it. The author
deserves it.
Ernest Siddall [D.Eng., FCAE, P.Eng.]
Thoroughly researched, comprehensive and readable October 23, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Blees has done an amazing job of assembling and presenting a comprehensive analysis of the world's energy situation, and presents a realstic, and sometimes visionary path forward. As someone who is has been involved in nuclear power development for many years, I find little to criticize in his presentation and analysis.
Prescription for the Planet by Tom Blees October 22, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have just finished reading Tom Blees new book Prescription for the Planet. The author has done his homework and the science is first rate. As a teacher of astrophysics for nearly half a century, I am impressed by those who do their homework! The "prescription" is suprising in its completeness. He taks on not one but three central problems of western society and eventually the entire planet, energy, transportation and garbadge. The scioence and technology for the first and last have been demonstrated. The science for his transportation solution is sound and the technology is plausible, but has yet to be demonstrated.
Some environmentalists will decry the case for nuclear power, but they should read the arguements first. A lot has been done in the last 30 years to improve reactor design and safety. Sadly it is not widely known even though it is being exploited outside the U.S.
Blees makes the convincing point that green energy sources, while attractive, are unlikely to meet the increasing world demand for power during the present century. The Integrated Fast Reactors he describes can and properly implemented would be safe. I had come to the conclusion that there was no technological fix for the mess we have made of this planet. After reading this book, I am reasonably confident that there may we be such a solution should we have the political will to impliment it.
This book is a "must read" for anyone who is concerned about the future of the planet. - George W. Collins, II PhD.
The solutions we need are in this book October 19, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Once you read this book, you'll realize that this feeling of hopelessness, alarm and dismay we all have regarding our energy needs and environmental issues is completely unnecessary. The solutions are all laid out for us clearly and concisely in this book. Tom's steady, deliberate and often whimsical delivery of the facts cannot help but sway even the most wizened of skeptics. These are not fanciful "pie-in-the-sky" theories... this blueprint for change involves the implementation of proven, existing technologies (endorsed by many of the world's leading scientists), which have been hitherto ignored or pushed aside due either to unfounded mass hysteria, ulterior political motives or just plain ignorance. Not unlike the kid who noticed that the emperor is wearing no clothes, Tom has a knack for stripping away facades and getting down to the truth of the matter, and demonstrating to us exactly what should have been obvious all along.
What we need to do is roll our sleeves up, get to work and put these plans into action so that we may extricate ourselves from our present dilemma and become a completely energy self-sufficient, environmentally responsible and prosperous society. It may sound like a utopian dream, but stranger things have happened! As a society, at this point in time, this is precisely what we're ready for, and Tom has proven in his book that it's all completely attainable. In the end, the only obstacles we truly face will be from governments or big business. Challenges certainly lie ahead, but armed with this information, we have not only hope, but a truly workable plan by which to make this world a better place for ourselves and our children.
To say that I recommend this book would be a mild understatement. If you care about this planet and are looking for viable solutions to our current woes, then you need to read this book immediately.
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