Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet
Assessing and Adapting to Planetary Limits
Assessing and Adapting to Planetary Limits
Thomas W. Murphy, Jr. University of California, San Diego
This book is dedicated to Earth, whose value is beyond measure. May we learn to live within its bounds, to the enduring benefit of all life.
This is a web-native MyST Markdown edition of Tom Murphy’s open textbook on energy and the limits a finite planet places on human ambitions. The book builds quantitative intuition — starting from exponential growth and the physics of energy, working through fossil fuels and climate, surveying every serious alternative energy source in turn, and closing with what individuals and societies might actually do about it.
The text assumes no more than high-school algebra. Appendix A is a math refresher and Appendix B a chemistry primer, for readers who want them.
How this edition is put together¶
The content is converted from the author’s print-format PDF. A few conventions of the original design are mapped onto web equivalents:
Numbered margin notes become footnotes, anchored at exactly the word they annotated in the print edition.
Unnumbered margin notes — the author’s general asides — become margin blocks, shown beside the paragraph they belong to on wide screens.
Definitions, Boxes and Examples, which the print edition sets in pink, blue and yellow panels, become labelled call-outs of matching intent.
Figures are re-cut from the source PDF as SVG wherever the artwork is vector, so they stay sharp at any zoom.
The alphabetical index is omitted: its page numbers have no web equivalent, and site search covers the same ground.
Source and license¶
The original textbook is published by eScholarship, University of California (ISBN 978-0-578-86717-5, DOI Murphy (2021)) and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Attributions and permissions for images not created by the author are listed in the Image Attributions section.
Suggested citation: Murphy, T. W., Jr. (2021). Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet: Assessing and Adapting to Planetary Limits. eScholarship, University of California.
To provide feedback and corrections on the original text, see the author’s book page.
- Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet
- Preface: Before Taking the Plunge
- How to Use This Book
- Part I — Setting the Stage: Growth and Limitations
- Part II — Energy and Fossil Fuels
- Part III — Alternative Energy
- Part IV — Going Forward
- Closing
- Appendices
- Reference
- Murphy, T. W. (2021). Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet. 10.21221/S2978-0-578-86717-5