Review of Changing Suburbs: Foundation, Form and Function (Studies in History, Planning, and the Environment) (Hardcover)

This book is of great interest to anyone who is interested in the history and current trends of suburbia in all of the top 4 English-speaking nations (i.e. the U.S., the U.K., Canada, and Australia).

I was especially interested in the one chapter about post-war suburban development in Australia, because I am interested in how Australia's suburbia compares with that of North America (the U.S. and Canada).This is the first book I have found so far that has detalied information on the history and current trends of Australia's suburbia.From what I have read in this book, it doesn't sound as if Australia's suburbia is very different from that of Canada.

I was a little surprised by the fact that the one chapter about Australia's post-war suburbia doesn't give any explanation for why the suburbs of Australia's major cities are served by more extensive networks of commuter rail service than the suburbs of comparably sized Canadian cities.I would never know that from what I read in this book, but I happen to know that from other sources.Knowing from this book that Australia's suburbs are just as spread out as those of Canada, I am surprised that they have more extensive networks of commuter rail service!I know that European cities have more extensive networks of commuter rail service (than Canada) too, but they are also more densely populated and less spread out than those of Canada or Australia.



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Review of Energy for Sustainability: Technology, Planning, Policy (Hardcover)

This book provides a clear, comprehensive and an excellent introduction to the technical basis, systems design, economic analysis, environmental impact and planning/policy of renewable and sustainable energy. Based partly on Prof. Masters' earlier work (Renewable and Efficient Electric Power Systems), this volume is completely redesigned and rewritten from the ground-up taking a multidisciplinary and whole life cycle approach.

Entirely new chapters are presented on:
a.energy analysis - history, future, market, economic, environmental and life-cycle analysis
b.energy theory - mechanical, thermal, chemical, nuclear, electrical, etc.
c.green buildings - cradle-to-cradle analysis of the built environment, ZEH, etc.
d.transportation - well-to-wheels analysis, PHEV, FCEV, etc.
e.land use planning - transit-oriented development, smart growth models, etc.
f.policy/planning - regulations, standards, ITC, PTC, FIT, carbon trading, RPS, etc.

The above are in addition to full chapters (with the latest updated material) on various renewables such as
a. solar (both photo-voltaic and thermal)
b. wind
c. biofuels
d. microturbines, fuel cells, CHP, etc.

The book provides most anything (nearly 800 pages) one wants to know under the clean-tech sun (at the undergraduate level prior to doing further advanced research on a specific area of interest). The book analyses each topic fairly thoroughly and explains everything very clearly. It is published by a non-profit which prolly explains the too-good-to-be-true low price. One thing to note is that the end-of-chapter problems are slated to be online and aren't in the book itself. Reading is a joy with numerous colorful graphs, tables, diagrams, flowcharts, real-world examples and actual photos. If you had to buy only one book in this space, u couldn't go wrong here - it is destined to be a classic.



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