Peek under the tree

The US National Academies of Sciences has many interesting reports and books (many free for download) on a variety Energy and Sustainability topics. Here are some examples;

           

         

          

The journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences¹ also provides a section on Sustainability Science with some freely available content, for example;

Public perceptions of energy consumption and savings
Abstract
In a national online survey, 505 participants reported their perceptions of energy consumption and savings for a variety of household, transportation, and recycling activities. When asked for the most effective strategy they could implement to conserve energy, most participants mentioned curtailment (e.g., turning off lights, driving less) rather than efficiency improvements (e.g., installing more efficient light bulbs and appliances), in contrast to experts’ recommendations. For a sample of 15 activities, participants underestimated energy use and savings by a factor of 2.8 on average, with small overestimates for low-energy activities and large underestimates for high-energy activities. Additional estimation and ranking tasks also yielded relatively flat functions for perceived energy use and savings. Across several tasks, participants with higher numeracy scores and stronger proenvironmental attitudes had more accurate perceptions. The serious deficiencies highlighted by these results suggest that well-designed efforts to improve the public's understanding of energy use and savings could pay large dividends.

I wanted to find a rich vein of information like this with more local content, but hey... Merry Xmas.

1. There have been some questions about the article submission and reviewing procedures of this journal. Members can sometimes get a "free kick".