Geoffrey Haggis
Matador,
2007, 160 pp., - ISBN 10: 1904744664
Geoffrey
Haggis has worked as an academic physicist and mathematician with applications
in fields of medicine and agriculture. Since retiring from academic life he has
studied environmental issues. This book I would heartily recommend to anyone
who wants to see more clearly how we get from ‘here’ to ‘there.’ Geoffrey
Haggis’ book traces the necessary steps to harness energy from a variety of
renewable sources, to supply our estimated needs for energy in the
His
way includes changes in life styles that will result in less profligate use of
fuel, but makes such changes sound desirable and attractive. An obvious example
is the establishment in cities of an efficient public transport system, such as
buses fuelled by hydrogen made from woodchips, as an alternative to sitting in
a traffic jam of cars. While hydrogen may initially need to be derived from
natural gas, ultimately it may be possible to sufficiently reforest this
country to derive it from wood. ‘A future
I welcomed, in this book, simple descriptions, with
good diagrams and pictures, that illuminate such processes such as that of the
proton-exchange membrane fuel cell which generates energy to turn a car motor;
or spelling out what is actually involved in decommissioning a nuclear power
station.
Not only are the nuts and bolts of energy production
from many different sources laid out in a comprehensible way, but Geoffrey
Haggis has done the calculations to give at least a rough estimate of how much
energy could be harnessed from different generators [tidal, wind, bio-mass,
methane, etc.] and how many of them would be needed to continue a pretty
comfortable, though different, lifestyle.
This is a book of vision as well as science, e.g. in
relation to increasing growth of upland woodlands, for fuels and recreation and
flood prevention, he writes, ‘Forestry work will be very popular with people
who wish to drop out of mainstream society, the foresters living in eco-villages
of timber and straw-bale houses in the woodlands.’!
One of the many changes in our present way of life
would be a dramatic reduction of the movement of food around the country and
across the world and eat more of what we grow locally. He notes,’ During WW2,
when food imports were severely restricted, nutritional levels for the very
poor were higher than they are today’.
However, this book is by no means harking back to an
idyllic former time, but looking forward to using all our ingenuity and newly-developed
alternative technologies to achieve a good life for all without destroying the
planet.
Dr. Wendy Stayte is a retired consultant
psychiatrist now involved in a local food production project.