First published in 2013. Desert Energy examines the key technologies being deployed in an effort to tap the potential presented by the world’s deserts for siting large scale solar power applications, and surveys the feasibility of such projects given the remoteness and hostility of these environments. Focusing on large scale photovoltaics and concentrating solar thermal power, the book explains how the systems work, projects that are being planned, the required scales, and the technical difficulties they need to overcome to function effectively. It then moves on to examine the economics of such projects and the social and environmental effects they may have. The book also considers the future for these systems as well as other, less developed technologies which may have a role to play. With reference throughout to built or planned projects, and written in a clear, jargon-free style, this is a must-read for anyone interested in the development of large scale solar applications.

The world's deserts are sufficiently large that, in theory, covering a fraction of their landmass with PV systems could generate many times the current primary global energy supply. In three parts, this study details the background and concept of VLS-PV, maps out a development path towards the realization of VLS-PV systems and provides firm recommendations to achieve long-term targets. This represents the first study to provide a concrete set of answers to the questions that must be addressed in order to secure and exploit the potential for VLS-PV technology and its global benefits.

Elaborate on the concept of biomes and ecosystems using this science inquiry card and lesson. Using vibrant, engaging images for science exploration allows all students to make connections and relate science concepts to new situations.

In 2006 Abu Dhabi launched an ambitious project to construct the world’s first zero-carbon city: Masdar City. In Spaceship in the Desert Gökçe Günel examines the development and construction of Masdar City's renewable energy and clean technology infrastructures, providing an illuminating portrait of an international group of engineers, designers, and students who attempted to build a post-oil future in Abu Dhabi. While many of Masdar's initiatives—such as developing a new energy currency and a driverless rapid transit network—have stalled or not met expectations, Günel analyzes how these initiatives contributed to rendering the future a thinly disguised version of the fossil-fueled present. Spaceship in the Desert tells the story of Masdar, at once a “utopia” sponsored by the Emirati government, and a well-resourced company involving different actors who participated in the project, each with their own agendas and desires.

The world's deserts are sufficiently large that, in theory, covering a fraction of their landmass with PV systems could generate many times the current primary global energy supply.The Energy from the Desert two-volume set details the background and concept of Very Large Scale Photovoltaics (VLS-PC) and examines and evaluates their potential as viable power generation systems. The authors present case studies of both virtual and real projects based on selected regions (including the Mediterranean, Sahara, Chinese Gobi, Mongolian Gobi, Indian Thar, Australian Desert and the US) and their specific socio-economic dynamics, and argue that VLS-PV systems in desert areas will be readily achievable in the near future.

The cult-y pocket-size field guide to the strange and intriguing secrets of the Mojave—its myths and legends, outcasts and oddballs, flora, fauna, and UFOs—becomes the definitive, oracular book of the desert For the past five years, Desert Oracle has existed as a quasi-mythical, quarterly periodical available to the very determined only by subscription or at the odd desert-town gas station or the occasional hipster boutique, its canary-yellow-covered, forty-four-page issues handed from one curious desert zealot to the next, word spreading faster than the printers could keep up with. It became a radio show, a podcast, a live performance. Now, for the first time—and including both classic and new, never-before-seen revelations—Desert Oracle has been bound between two hard covers and is available to you. Straight out of Joshua Tree, California, Desert Oracle is “The Voice of the Desert”: a field guide to the strange tales, singing sand dunes, sagebrush trails, artists and aliens, authors and oddballs, ghost towns and modern legends, musicians and mystics, scorpions and saguaros, out there in the sand. Desert Oracle is your companion at a roadside diner, around a campfire, in your tent or cabin (or high-rise apartment or suburban living room) as the wind and the coyotes howl outside at night. From journal entries of long-deceased adventurers to stray railroad ad copy, and musings on everything from desert flora, rumored cryptid sightings, and other paranormal phenomena, Ken Layne's Desert Oracle collects the weird and the wonderful of the American Southwest into a single, essential volume.

10 years ago the idea that solar and wind energy in desert areas could become a major source of energy for the world sounded like crazy. The German industry and a German NGO launched in those days a Desertec1.0 plan to bring electrical power from the North African deserts to Europe, even to Germany. A long journey of studies, regional and international stakeholder discussions and many trials and errors have followed. Desertec1.0 became Desertec2.0 in 2015 when the industry initiative Dii relocated from Munich to Dubai focusing on developments and benefits in the MENA region. Today all desert countries have adopted the basic Desertec idea, which is swiftly migrating to Desertec3.0: MENA countries to become an emission free power house for green electrons and green molecules (such as hydrogen) for their own people and for the world markets. The exciting story of Dii Desert Energy and emission free energy perspectives for all are smartly presented and discussed in this book by Paul van Son and Thomas Isenburg....