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RMI Bookshelf

Over the years, RMI staff and board members have written about the energy transition, energy security, efficiency, the environment, sustainable energy and buildings, and more. Click on the authors below to see some of the books written by our expert colleagues and board.

Books written by current and former RMI staff

Bill Browning

William D. Browning and Catherine O. Ryan, RIBA publishing, 2020
A practical guide to biophilic design principles for interior designers.
William D. Browning and Dianna Lopez Barnett, RMI, 1995
The most complete introduction to date on the principles of sustainable design and construction.

Cameron Burns

Building Without Borders: Sustainable Construction for the Global Village
Cameron M. Burns, New Society Publishers, 2004
Pioneering efforts to create sustainable shelter for the billions of under-housed people around the world.
Cameron M. Burns, University of Nevada Press, 2008
First-person climbing stories on the relationship between climbers and nature from America’s best-known climbers and writers.
A Primer on Sustainable Building

Debbie Gordon

Deborah Gordon and Daniel Sperling, Oxford University Press, 2009
How we arrived at America’s love affair with cars and what we can do about it.
Deborah Gordon, Oxford University Press, 2021
The varying climate impacts of global oil and gas, and solutions to cut oil and gas emissions while making transitioning to a carbon-free energy future.

Hal Harvey

Hal Harvey and Michael Shuman, Westview Press, 1993
Security principles and policies for the United States to adopt in a post-Cold War world.
Hal Harvey, Robbie Orvis, and Jeffrey Rissman, Island Press, 2022
The latest research and analysis around low carbon energy solutions.
Hal Harvey and Justin Gillis, Simon & Schuster, 2023
How the really big decisions that affect our climate get made and how each of us can influence these decisions to deliver change.

Richard Heede

Richard Heede et al, RMI, 1995
This book helps homeowners and renters sort through the array of new and old technology and explains how to save money and the environment.

Michael Kinsley

Michael J. Kinsley, RMI, 1997
A manual for how to steer your community toward development that is sensitive to local values and the environment.

Amory Lovins (selected publications)

mory B. Lovins and Rocky Mountain Institute, 2013, Chelsea Green Publishing
Reinventing Fire roadmaps how to run a 158%-bigger US economy in 2050 needing no oil, coal, or nuclear energy — $5 trillion cheaper.
Paul Hawken, Amory B. Lovins, and Hunter Lovins, 1999, Little, Brown and Co.
Natural capitalism is a business approach not only for protecting the planet but also for improving profits and competitiveness.
Amory B. Lovins, 2011, Routledge
A collection of Amory’s most important and influential writings to date.
Amory B. Lovins, et al., 2014, Ellen Macarthur Foundation
The case for a profound shift from throughput to “roundput” and from ownership to access.
ory B. Lovins, 2003, RMI
More than 200 ways in which the size of electrical resources — devices that make, save, or store electricity — affects their economic value.
Amory B. Lovins, Harper Collins, 1979
Soft energy paths describe an alternative future where energy efficiency and appropriate renewable energy sources steadily replace a centralized energy system based on fossil and nuclear fuels.
Amory B. Lovins et al., RMI, 2004
A roadmap for getting the United States completely, attractively, and profitably off oil.
Ernst U. Von Weizsacker, Amory B. Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins, Routledge, 1998
How a new form of progress, resource productivity, can meet the overriding imperative for the future (sustainability).

The Energy Controversy: Soft Path Questions and Answers
Amory Lovins and his critics, Brick House Publishing Company, 1979
A comprehensive overview of the energy controversy, presenting both sides of the argument in a clear and concise manner.

Energy Unbound: A Fable for America’s Future
Amory B. Lovins, Hunter Lovins, and Seth Zuckerman, Random House, Inc., 1986
A vision for a sustainable energy future, emphasizing energy efficiency and renewable sources.

World Energy Strategies: Facts, Issues and Options
Amory B. Lovins, HarperCollins, 1975
A technical assessment of the nature and magnitude of constraints on our already inadequate energy resources.
Amory B. Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins, Brick House Publishing, 1982
Originally prepared as a Pentagon study, the book shows that a resilient energy system is feasible, costs less, works better, and is favored in the market, but is rejected by US policy.

L. Hunter Lovins

Hunter Lovins, Stewart Wallis, Anders Wijkman, and John Fullerton, New Society Publishers, 2018
A blueprint for business leaders, entrepreneurs, environmentalists, politicians, policymakers, and others working to create a world that works for people and the planet.
Hunter Lovins, Hill and Wang, 2019
A roadmap for transforming capitalism to create a regenerative economy that works for all.
Keivan Zokaei, Hunter Lovins, Andy Wood, and Peter Hines, Routledge, 2013
Opportunities for innovation that can simultaneously reduce dependence on natural resources and enhance global prosperity.

Chris Magwood

Chris Magwood, New Society Publishers, 2017
The book covers what makes a building green, a criteria matrix to guide design, material, and systems decisions, working with code officials, and choosing sustainable materials to keep the project goals on track from start to finish.
Chris Magwood, New Society Publishers, 2016
An illustrated guide to this affordable, renewable method, from procurement to finish.
Chris Magwood, New Society Publishers, 2016
How An illustrated guide to pre-manufactured bale walls covering the properties, applications, specifications, code-compliance and climate data.
Chris Magwood, New Society Publishers, 2014
Sustainable building from the ground up – the pros and cons of the latest green and natural materials and technologies.
Chris Magwood, New Society Publishers, 2005
A completely rewritten and updated edition of this straw building classic.
Bruce King and Chris Magwood, Island Press, 2022
A snapshot of a beginning and map towards a carbon-smart built environment that acts as a CO2 filter.

Rachel Sarah

Rachel Sarah, Chicago Review Press, 2021
Stories of 25 female climate leaders under age 25.
Rachel Sarah, Chicago Review Press, 2023
Stories of female climate scientists, journalists, professors, academics, researchers, and policy makers from around the world.
Rachel Sarah, Yellow Jacket, 2025
How modern farmers are changing the way we think about food production.

Robert Sardinsky

Robert Sardinsky, RMI, 1992
Reviews of selected books and a directory of organizations devoted to home-scale resource efficiency.

Joel Swisher

Joel N. Swisher, RMI, 2003
An easy-to follow guide on how businesses can become more profitable and efficient while reducing their global warming impacts.
Joel N. Swisher, Gilberto de Martino Jannuzzi, and Robert Y. Redlinger, UN Environment Programme, 1997
Tools and methods for integrated resource planning with particular attention toward improving energy efficiency in developing countries.

Trustees (current and former)

Catherine Coleman Flowers

Catherine Coleman Flowers, The New Press, 2020
The story of systemic class, racial, and geographic prejudice that foster Third World conditions not just in Alabama, but across America.
Catherine Coleman Flowers, Spiegel and Grau, 2025
Essays that illuminate and contextualize the most pressing issues of this moment: climate change, human rights, rural poverty, reproductive justice, and more.

José María Figueres

José María Figueres, Ministry of Information and Communication, 1998
A curated selection of speeches by Costa Rican President José María Figueres Olsen during the final year of his administration.

Sumant Sinha

Sumant Sinha, Harper Collins, 2020
A concise introduction to the challenges, realities and complexities of the global and local energy industry, as well as the trends and forces driving the energy transition.

Todd Stern

Todd Stern, The MIT Press, 2024
An inside account of the seven-year negotiation that culminated in the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015—and where the international climate effort needs to go from here.

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