For the Lovinses, reconceptualizing and then rebuilding our systems-in-common as smaller, more flexible, more self-contained, less polluting, and closer to home was the wisest way to proceed. Soft energy technologies, the adoption of which they considered to be the first necessary step toward ensuring energy security in the United States, have five defining characteristics. First, they rely on renewable energy resources, like wind and solar, but also biomass, geothermal, wave, and tidal power. Second, they are diverse and designed to function with maximum effectiveness within specific
...more
