Customer Reviews

Earth: The Sequel: The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a forward-looking, hope-filled preview of how we'll generate energy in the coming decades.

I follow environmental and energy issues closely, but a lot in here was new to me. I had no idea that solar technology is getting so sophisticated. And people are finding so many ways to make energy -- from algae and plants, from wind, from waste. Imagining a world without oil and coal is a lot easier for me after reading this.

The book is also a tour of the newest wave of start-up companies. I'm a veteran of the first dot-com boom, so the passion and excitement of these inventors was fun to see. They come from all sorts of backgrounds, and I liked hearing about the difficult problems they're solving.

Some of them will fold, but some of them will hit the jackpot. My brother is looking for new business ventures and is exploring renewable energy projects -- I marked a good half-dozen pages for him to get ideas from!

This book is a must read for everyone interested in the possibilities of our clean energy future and the necessity of stopping global warming.

We have been stuck in a national debate between the doomsayers who warn of the serious threats of global warming and the naysayers who deny global warming is real and are blocking national action.

This book resets the conversation. There is a world of possibility ready to explode with smart national policies that reward low-carbon energy innovation. It's up to us to take this message of hope to decision makers in Washington to pass smart national policy to unleash the innovators.

Absolute must read on the future of national energy policy and solutions.

Writer Miriam Horn could make a common shopping list engaging and enlightening. We are all lucky that she has not squandered her talent on shopping lists, but has, along with Fred Krupp, written an informative and fascinating account of the exciting work being done to save us from our own excesses. The stories in the book will make you reconsider the dark idea that perhaps the human race is getting what it deserves. This is a vitally important book to buy and a total pleasure to read.

This book illuminates how politics, economics and science can come together to wildly accelerate our ability to save the planet and spare the next generation from the catastrophic effects of global warming. I love that Fred Krupp & Miriam Horn argue in favor of channeling the profit motive to create a gigantic tipping point in commercializing alternative energy sources. They chronicle amazing scientists, visionary business people, and forward-looking politicians whose integrated efforts have the potential to save our collective you-know-what.

I'm with John Doerr whose blurb on the back cover draws a parallel between the billions made in the recent tech revolution, and the opportunity inherent in the environmental revolution. He says that in 20 years some 35-year old will be a billionaire because s/he read the book at 15. I plan to read it out loud to my 10 year old.

In Earth: The Sequel, Fred Krupp and Miriam Horn take a trip around the world to find the bold energy solutions that the world needs to combat Global Warming and boy, do they succeed! New breakthroughs in solar, wind, biofuels, geothermal, nuclear and wave energy are the stars of this book and the entrepreneurs that are working on these breakthroughs are nothing short of inspiring. The problem, however, is that none of these breakthroughs are likely to advance in our energy marketplace without the help of a Carbon Cap and Trade program, which will set a true price for emitting Carbon Dioxide and provide incentives for developing green energy.

Readers who find the idea of a emissions trading offensive may want to stay away from this book. On the other hand, they may want to read it and rethink their position because the breakthrough's highlighted by Krupp and Miriam are just too important for our future.

The only real criticism I have about Earth: The Sequel is that many may find it too confusing or dry. That's a shame because the message needs to be heard beyond the sphere of eco-geeks (like me) who eat this stuff up. On the Environmental Defense Fund site, there is a video promo for the book which, if expanded on, would make a good movie (ala An Inconvenient Truth) or television show. In other words, television and the big screen should be the sequel to Earth: The Sequel.

As a recent college graduate entering the private sector of the work force, I believe Krupp and Horn have created a window into the future. They abandon the uninspiring lectures of climate change's past, and immerse the reader in the inspiring and explosive world of renewable energies. For the first time our looming changing climate and energy obstacles are presented as what they truly are: opportunities.

Krupp and Horn illustrate how the combined efforts of entrepreneurs, legislators, and the free market economy will revolutionize a mutli- trillion dollar industry, rewarding handsomely those who take notice now, while leading us where we need to go. However, they emphasize this is not a leisurely exercise and we are rapidly losing time.

The authors have successfully reframed the climate and energy crisis from one of blame into one of unimaginable rewards for those who grasp this generation defining opportunity. It is truly inspiring and is without a doubt one of the most important books I have ever read. This is not a book for environmentalists (myself not being one), but a book for everyone. I especially suggest those of my young generation to pick it up for it is our future of which they speak, and it will soon either be our fault, or our glory. This book will surely help us reach the latter.

I like this book and recommend it for students of any age from high school to the geriatric crowd that I represent. It has a super index but no mention of Lester Brown or Herman Daly, but that is offset by back cover recomendations from E. O. Wilson, Mark Lewis, and Michael Bloomberg.

Highlights from my fly leaf notes:

+ 1977 Clean Air was a command and control one size fits all that did not pass the market test

+ Lead author and others with the Environmental Defense Fund were instrumental in getting the 1990 Clear Air Act passed.

+ Making clean air a commodity makes the environment a profit center

+ Although there is no mention of Paul Hawkin's "true cost" meme, Hawkins does get listed in the index twice, see his Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World; the author mentions the urgency of accounting for the cost of pollution.

+ USA must cut its emissions by 80%

+ The author is fully aware that Acts of God are in fact Acts of Man. Another book, I cannot remember which, tells us that changes to the planet that used to take 10,000 years now take three. Not only do we need real time science, but we also need The Precautionary Principle: A Critical Appraisal

+ Clean energy is described by one sources as "the mother of all markets."

+ The author considers the energy markets to be completely "rigged" and notes that grain based ethanol, which I have called idiocy on more than one occasion, exists because of lobbying from Archer Daniels Midland among others.

+ In 2005 solar power grew by 45%.

+ Solar is distributed power, storage is a major obstacle.

+ The author clearly excited by Silicon Valley nano-tech, and also cautious about what we do not know when it is destabilized.

+ The solar energy industry is shooting for the Home Depot marketplace, stuff so simple I could install it. The author also tells us that banks are starting to get into power purchase agreements that will finance clean energy the way a home or car might be mortgaged. Home depot level will also mean graceful degradation and no "crash" or energy equivalent of Bill Gate's "blue screen of death".

+ Concentrating the sun is another promising approach. The author tells us that solar energy is six times more land efficient than wind energy.

+ Cuba is sitting on a sugar cane gold mine, biofuels with zero emissions are on the way from sugar modification.

+ Algae is covered, as well as bacteria.

+ Ocean power is also making headway, and is consistent, predictable, and has a high energy density.

+ Earth thermal includes hot water that comes with oil, previously considered a nusiance.

+ Coal is getting a make-over, and biomimicry is helping. It must get a make-over because it is an essential part of the mid-term power solution.

+ Sequestration is working and will work long enough to matter.

+ Regenerative reserves (e.g. the Amazon) are an essential part of the future. More more on this see the lovely and informative Climate Change and Biodiversity

+ Manure is turning into a major league energy source (when it's not contaminating our spinach, there is a whole land under surface water use deal here that we just do not understand.

+ Energy efficiency, hybrid cars, and smarter land use (compacting towns and cities to increase efficiency of public transportation) are part of the solution.

+ All parties will spend $10 trillion over the next thirty years to achieve clean energy.

See Other books I recommend:
Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, Third Edition
Ecological Economics: Principles And Applications
The Future of Life
The Mighty Acts of God
The Republican War on Science
Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature
Green Chemistry and the Ten Commandments of Sustainability, 2nd ed

This is a fine book. See also the WIRED Magazine Cover Story from 2000, it came out the same month Dick Cheney was meeting secretly with Enron and Exxon executives.

I don't know what it is about book sub-titles these days but they all have them, and this one generously has *two*, "The Sequel" and the common "The Race To.." (at least it's not "..That Changed the World"). I very often avoid books with these sub-titles because I know exactly what to expect: a long magazine article that would have been better in a magazine and not as a book. However in this case I took the chance because one of the co-authors is Fred Krupp, President of the influential Environmental Defense Fund, and the publisher is W.W. Norton. Even though it is indeed written like a magazine article (very skillfully I assume mostly by Miriam Horn) with lots of human interest stories and non-fiction narrative techniques, the content is well worth it.

Essentially it is a survey of the current technologies, companies and people involved with alternative energy in the United States. Even though I follow this stuff in the news and blogs there was tons of new stuff here I never knew about. Some of the people involved are really fascinating. Some of the companies are much further along than I realized. Others are probably not the solutions I thought they may be. My copy is marked up with people and companies to watch.

If the book has a message it is this: free markets work, but only if there is a cap and trade system to adjust the cost of fossil fuels upward, so that alternative technologies have a chance to develop and compete. If there is no cost to pollute, than obviously clean technologies are at a disadvantage. This has to change, and soon.

Earth: The Sequel The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming by Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund, and Miriam Horn, is a good place to acquaint yourself with many of the alternative energy technologies currently under development. The style is easy to read and Krupp and Horn do a good job of explaining the complexities of a given technology in simple, easy-to-understand language. The focus is on future technologies that, in many cases, are still not proven, i.e. biofuels from algae, carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).

The book's one notable flaw is that there is virtually no discussion of wind technology. In one sense this may be good news given Krupp's enthusiasm for new technology. Perhaps he regards wind as too simple and well established to merit detailed discussion in a book dedicated to complicated technical solutions to the problems posed by fossil fuels. Nonetheless, it's a curious omission.

The authors describe in detail a number of ongoing alternative-energy projects and the scientist-entrepreneurs who are developing them. Attention is paid to the challenges faced by these entrepreneurs in technology development, permitting and arranging the financing that they need to make their projects a reality.

At the end of the book, the authors discuss the policy changes they believe it will be necessary to implement if these projects are to succeed, chief of which is the enactment of some form of cap and trade program. They also briefly revisit some of the options already discussed, this time with a more critical eye, (I suspect the last chapters were written quite a bit later than the first ones) particularly as regards ethanol and hydrogen, both of which can now be clearly seen to have been way overhyped.

Earth: The Sequel is a fascinating portrayal of state of the art advances in alternative energy production. The sun, the wind, the oceans, geothermal, biothermal - there are a host of ways that we can replace fossil fuels, and many highly creative people are working hard to make it happen. It becomes clear, through reading this extraordinary book, that we can do it, that the economy will thrive as we make this transition, and that the earth can be saved from global warming as we do this. This book portrays the nuts and bolts of the incredible effort that mankind must now make to save the earth from destruction.