Customer Reviews

Energy and American Society Thirteen Myths

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This is an excellent introduction to real energy issues, written by experts, with many useful references for further study. Energy mythinformation (inadvertent or otherwise) propagates all too easily, and this book does a good job of debunking the common myths.

Anyone involved in policies regarding energy&climate change should be familiar with this material, and that includes ordinary citizens, especially those who might care about the US economy and environment seen by any grandchildren.

I'd summarize the book as saying:
a) We face serious problems, as we *will* run out cheap oil, and then cheap gas [look up "Peak Oil" in Wikipedia], and if we keep burning coal without sequestering CO2, we will push the planet into a much hotter state with serious economic downsides. Right now, the US economy depends on cheap oil, and of course, it might be better not to be selling off big chunks of the US economy to other countries to feed our oil habit forever.

b) However, we actually have pretty good solutions for many of the problems, mostly without requiring magic technology leaps. There is no one silver bullet, but a myriad of small actions to be taken to stop wasting energy, many of which actually save money right away.

c) Most of the actions required are actually policy choices, with help from widespread use of existing technologies, plus rational R&D investments. Low electicity-per-capita use in some states has been achieved with no obvious economic catastrophes. [Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and California are not usually considered poor places.] Of course, we have much further to go, but in many cases, it really is a matter of choosing to do the right things.

The editors provide an introduction and summary bookending 13 myth discussions by (mostly) other authors. Following is a list of the 13 myths, with comments on a few of the chapters:

1. Today's Energy Crisis is "Hype"

2. The Public is Well Informed About Energy

3. High Land Requirements and an Unfavorable Energy Balance Preclude Biomass Ethanol from Playing a Large Role in Providing Energy Services
- This is an especially important chapter, as the topic engenders much confusion. Not all biofuels need be from corn, and there is more land available than many think.

4. The Hydrogen Economy is A Panacea
- Dr. Joseph Romm shows why hydrogen (especially for vehicles) is a long way off, if ever, compared to PHEV/FF (plug-in-electric-vehicles with flex-fuels). He shows why research is appropriate, but not spending huge $$ for premature deployment, especially to the detriment of truly useful steps doable much sooner.

I also his recommend Joe's website http://climateprogress.org/, and his book Hell and High Water: Global Warming--the Solution and the Politics--and What We Should Do.

5. Price Signals are Insufficient to Induce Efficient Energy Investments

6. The Barriers to New and Innovative Energy Technologies are Primarily Technical:
- The Case for Distributed Generation
- In many ways, distributed generation of electricity would be more efficient, but power companies are geared for centralized generation, even with expensive long-distance distribution.

7. Renewable Energy Systems Could Never meet Growing Electricity Demand in America

8. Worldwide Power Systems are Economically and Environmentally Optimal
- Tom Casten and Robert Ayres show how far off we are, illustrating the efficiencies gotten with waste-energy recycling / cogeneration ... that are strongly inhibited by regulatory issues and market distortions, compared with places like Denmark or The Netherlands, etc. See Casten's website: http://www.recycled-energy.com/index.html

9. Energy Efficiency Improvements have Already Reached Their Potential
- Amory Lovins shows why not, why "negawatts" are really cost-effective, and why nuclear plants don't seem very cost-effective compared to other options. I especially liked his description of his Rocky Mountain house that lacks a conventional heating system, but whose design cuts heat losses to within 1% of various free heat gains. "The last 1% can come from a 50-watt dog, adjustable to 100W by throwing a ball..."

10. Energy Efficiency Measures are Unreliable, Unpredictable, and Unenforceable

11. Energy R&D Investment Takes Decades to Reach the Market

12. Climate Policy will Bankrupt the US Economy
- California is pretty aggressive on this, because we have to be, as all the impacts of global warming will cost us money. Nevertheless, California is hardly poor, and we expect that reworking our infrastructure for energy efficiency, and heading towards minimal use of fossil fuels as early as we can, will only make us more competitive in the face of increasing oil costs.

13. Developing Countries are Not Doing Their Part in Responding to Concerns about Climate Change

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This is a very useful book. I expect to study many chapters in further depth and chase down references.

I should state that I had the benefit of being a student in Professor Brown's class where we utilized this book.

That being said, many of the "myths" in this book are misconceptions that perhaps most of society today falls victim to. The book presents evidence from leading scholars in the fields of energy technology, public policy and economics which shed some much needed light on these topics and shows how interwoven they really are.

If you have an interest in where this country and the rest of world is heading in terms of energy reform, and what obstacles (both technological and political) lay in their paths, then this is an excellent book for you.