Although they don't want to dwell on doomsday predictions, the authors set the stage for the importance of change and innovation with chapters on the greenhouse effect, energy cost (changes and tendencies for fossil fuels and renewable sources), and energy consumption data for Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Middle East, and Asia and Oceania. Daniels (design and building technology, Technische Universitât, Munich) and Hammann (design and sustainable building systems, department of architecture, U. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) follow with detailed views of Germany, Switzerland, and France and some global energy scenarios before focusing on various aspects of building for the post-fossil fuel era and giving detailed case studies of small-scale projects and also discussing zero-energy super-tall buildings. The final chapters address renewable energy options such as biomass, earth tubes and geothermal labyrinths, cogeneration, solar thermal, photovoltaic systems, wind power, and tidal energy, among others, as well as the details of various methods of energy storage. Text is in side-by-side columns of German and English. Distributed in the US by National Book Network. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)