Project Sunshine: How Science Can Use The Sun to Fuel and Feed the World

Project Sunshine addresses fossil fuel burning, alternative energy technologies that do not create greenhouse gas pollution and how to feed the growing population of the future. It uses a friendly walk-through-history to bring readers into the future without straying from the gravity of the topic. The book is very easy to read, and almost seems directed at a young adult audience. The authors are Tony Ryan, who is Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Sheffield and leads the Faculty of Science with a specialty in polymer science and journalist Steve McKevitt, a U.K. Government advisor on business innovation and international trade. It's nice to read a book deliberately written in such an accessible way. There's a lot of potentially new information in here, as the authors remark in the preface, "big problems require radical solutions."
In the second chapter, "Weathering a Perfect Storm" there is a bit of a science introduction, simplistic but entertaining, followed by the chapter “taking control,” which describes the author's outlook on human history and human-as-hunter-gatherer, before moving into chapter three, “States of Emergency.” By this point the structure chosen by the authors becomes clear, as the book helpfully describes civilizations that weathered crisis through technological advances.
The book is very British, as they pursue an Elizabethan comparison into several chapters in an interesting way, first describing the Elizabethan energy crisis in 1260, a point when coal could not be shipped to London as all available accessible sources had been exhausted, starting the practice of mining it. The comparison is that we now must begin to mine solar or be left in the dark.
The book also usefully talks about slash and burn deforestation in Britain, and the exploitation of arable land as historic lessons contemporary planners must learn from. After the history lesson, it explores Britain's vast wind and tidal power resources in a way that is informational and detailed. It admires the solar project Gemasolar and Seville, Spain and explores the potential for large-scale battery storage, such as those being developed at MIT. The energy section of the book is exhaustive, exploring battery types, predicting future technologies and exploring the pro-and-cons of all the current cutting edge technology, including hurdles that are still to be overcome and in some cases have been overcome since the writing of the book. It is very positive about algal biofuels and is also enthusiastic about Methanol as a liquid storage medium. Finally, it addresses the cultural problem of climate denial and climate change, referencing Al Gore, and addresses nuclear power, remarking, "the history of fission power is a lesson in the dangers of engineering compromise."
Moving from energy questions, the authors take on food sovereignty in the chapter “Feast or Famine.” True to the book's subtitle, the authors explore ways to feed the world, remarking, "the potential for GM is significant. Bio-engineering is well-placed to address many of the problems we have outlined: Salination, climate change, drought, flooding," an opinion I find naiive without specifics. Fortunately, the book does attempt to address the problems involved with genetic modification as well as why raising plants in sterile soil as not sustainable. The book then describes why a third of all food produced in the U.K. is thrown away at the time of writing, a "chilling fact" caused by "befuddled logic and consumer whimsy." With lines like, "the foods that fails to pass muster in this greengrocers beauty parade is discarded" Feast or Famine was my favourite chapter. This section also highlights "the moral and economic challenges of maintaining a diet high in meat and dairy," and the issues of class difference, "the better-off households produce an average of 5 kilos more waste per week then working-class households."
In general, I found this book to be a readable and engaging work, the collaboration of two surprisingly accessible writers. Project Sunshine has a great amount of current research and is dense with references and sources, it has pages of further reading at the end and I enjoyed become involved with the book through the history-lesson structure of the first half. The energy technology sections are not difficult for a layperson to understand and it lays a helpful groundwork for anticipating new technologies on the horizon. This general attitude throughout the book makes Project Sunshine a recommended sunny read for dark days.

Ryan, T., & McKevitt, S. (2013). Project sunshine: How science can use the sun to fuel and feed the world. Icon.