Energy Myths and Realities: Bringing Science to the Energy Policy Debate [Hardcover]

Vaclav Smil (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 16, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0844743283 | ISBN-13: 978-0844743288 | Edition: First

There are many misconceptions about the future of global energy often presented as fact by the media, politicians, business leaders, activists, and even scientists—wasting time and money and hampering the development of progressive energy policies. Energy Myths and Realities: Bringing Science to the Energy Policy Debate debunks the most common fallacies to make way for a constructive, scientific approach to the global energy challenge.

When will the world run out of oil? Should nuclear energy be adopted on a larger scale? Are ethanol and wind power viable sources of energy for the future? Vaclav Smil advises the public to be wary of exaggerated claims and impossible promises. The global energy transition will be prolonged and expensive—and hinges on the development of an extensive new infrastructure. Established technologies and traditional energy sources are persistent and adaptable enough to see the world through that transition.

Energy Myths and Realities brings a scientific perspective to an issue often dominated by groundless assertions, unfounded claims, and uncritical thinking. Before we can create sound energy policies for the future, we must renounce the popular myths that cloud our judgment and impede true progress.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Prof. Smil is an expert on the history of technological innovation....Prof. Smil methodically sets out to show that the facts do not support either the romantics, who think we’ll be saved by wind turbines, or the techno-optimists, who think that electric cars are right around the corner. (The Globe and Mail )

Mandatory reading for U.S. policymakers. (National Review )

Smil (environment and environmental geography, U. of Manitoba, Canada) debunks myths and misconceptions about energy to provide a more realistic understanding of energy affairs and introduce skeptical perspectives of future energy options. The myths relate to electric cars; nuclear electricity; soft energy; peak oil and the consequences of oil depletion; carbon dioxide sequestration; liquid fuels from plants, including ethanol from corn; wind power; and the rapid pace of energy transitions. (Booknews )

The book provides the insights of a careful, experienced observer into the arrant nonsense that is routinely presented in calls for radical changes in energy consumption practices....A readable, sensible survey of why a massive energy transformation is problematic. The book does a good job of relaying the academic literature on new energy technologies. It is a healthy corrective to the special pleading that has marred the U.S. discussion of energy. (Regulation Magazine )

Numerous energy-related issues have increased public discussions to the point that energy has become a permanent part of national policy concerns and/or debates.... In his well-researched book, Smil (Univ. of Manitoba, Canada), author of numerous energy-related works, examines the scientific authenticity of information available to the public based on "first principles, basic engineering realities, and simple but revealing quantification" and warns of promoting any simplistic solutions to deep worldwide dependence on fossil fuels. He concludes with an interesting chapter titled "The Pace of Energy Transition," arguing that it takes more than money and good wishes to replace an existing infrastructure. Smil's suggestion to reduce energy consumption via increasing energy efficiency in all sectors is hard to challenge. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals; general readers. (CHOICE )

America needs energy, it’s how to get which is the massive debate. Energy Myths and Realities: Bringing Science to the Energy Policy Debate is a realistic approach to the energy crisis that encourages progress but at the same time realizes there is no silver bullet solution to America’s energy issues. With thoughtful research, Vaclav Smil looks at history and draws a map to where we are now and the many solutions that sit before us. Energy Myths and Realities is a core addition to any environmental and political studies collection. (Wisconsin Bookwatch )

Energy is both a technical topic and a political one; all too often, the political claims and assertions get far more play than sober technical reality. In Energy Myths and Realities, Vaclav Smil does a brilliant job of examining the crazy quilt of claims and assertions about energy. With great wit and simple, clear arguments, he shows that most of the wild claims we hear-in all directions-have no basis in reality. (Nathan Myhrvold, CEO, Intellectual Ventures )

Vaclav Smil is a giant among energy scientists and historians. In this book, he explains why fossil fuels remain dominant, why it is so hard to scale up wind and solar technologies, and why nuclear power, despite having been over-hyped in the past, is one of our best hopes for meeting future energy needs and dealing with global warming. (Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger, co-founders of Breakthrough Institute )

Investment opportunities into new energy sources and related conversion techniques are, at times, molded by preconceived ideas that can sometimes lead to excessively positive and unjustifiably enthusiastic expectations. By criticizing the assorted myths and misconceptions surrounding energy innovations, Vaclav Smil provides readers with refreshing insights which are often missing in today's energy policy debates. (Philippe Rohner, Senior Investment Manager, Pictet Asset Management )

Vaclav Smil is a master thinker about the master resource of energy. A multidisciplinarian, Smil combines basic economics, technological understanding, and historical insight to skewer false energy visions. Energy reality, he reminds us, is determined by the free marketplace, not by words or wishes. (Robert Bradley, founder and CEO, Institute for Energy Research )

I recommend this book to everyone who spends time working on energy issues – not to cheer them up but to help them have a stronger framework for evaluating energy promises. (Bill Gates, thegatesnotes.com )

About the Author

Vaclav Smil is Distinguished Professor of Environment and Environmental Geography at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: AEI Press; First edition (August 16, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0844743283
• ISBN-13: 978-0844743288
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 0.8 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #67,253 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #36 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Public Affairs & Policy > Environmental Policy
  • #49 in Books > Professional & Technical > Engineering > Energy

More About the Author

Vaclav Smil is currently a Distinguished Professor in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. He completed his graduate studies at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Carolinum University in Prague and at the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences of the Pennsylvania State University. His interdisciplinary research interests encompass a broad area of energy, environmental, food, population, economic, historical and public policy studies, and he had also applied these approaches to energy, food and environmental affairs of China.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (Science Academy) and the first non-American to receive the American Association for the Advancement of Science Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology. He has been an invited speaker in more than 250 conferences and workshops in the USA, Canada, Europe, Asia and Africa, has lectured at many universities in North America, Europe and East Asia and has worked as a consultant for many US, EU and international institutions. His wife Eva is a physician and his son David is an organic synthetic chemist.

Official Website: www.vaslavsmil.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Energy Generation: The Hard Facts Unveiled September 7, 2010

By G. Poirier

Format:Hardcover

We have often heard authoritative statements made by various reputable individuals about new ideas for producing plenty of energy in the near future - cleanly, efficiently and cheaply. These often involved new approaches combined with new scientific/technological advances of various sorts. But as the months, years and even decades pass by, we are left still waiting for these ideas, or perhaps some offshoots, to materialize. In this book, the author explains the reasons for these shortcomings and warns about any such statements that may currently being made. As the author puts it, the book is "aimed at criticizing assorted myths and misconceptions [about energy-related issues], and in doing so has mostly had to correct excessively positive or unjustifiably enthusiastic expectations and interpretation" (p. 156). Only in one case presented in the book has the opposite been done, i.e., to address a myth that is unjustifiably too negative. The myths discussed are related to: electric cars, cheap nuclear electricity, soft energy, peak oil, i.e., the so-called Hubbert's peak, sequestration of carbon dioxide, liquid fuel from plants, electricity from wind, and the pace of energy transitions. For some, this book may be an eye-opener; for others, it may confirm their suspicions. And for the enthusiasts who are, in all honesty, promoting some of these myths, the hard facts presented may be terribly discouraging.

The writing style is clear, occasionally witty, very authoritative, rather formal but also relatively accessible. The book reads like a set of scientific reports - one for each topic being addressed; consequently, one might say that the prose is often rather dry. As is standard for scientific reports, the text is dense with information, contains a great many facts and figures, has several useful diagrams and is extensively referenced. This book is likely to be most appreciated by those who are concerned about future energy production/consumption, e.g., policy makers, politicians, scientists, engineers and interested members of the public.

32 of 41 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Odd December 21, 2010

By toronto

Format:Hardcover

Smil is a complete genius -- I have six of his books (where does he find the time?) -- but this one is a disappointment. The best part of the book (like the others) is that he is able to marshall a vast amount of fact just when you need it in a discussion in a pointed way: a gold mine. It is also good that he skewers a lot of sacred cows: the Hypercar is only one!. It is interesting that the book is published by the American Enterprise Institute and has blurbs on it about the free market, whereas the book says nothing about the glories of the free market. Perhaps they just liked the part about peak oil taking longer to peak than ecowisdom has it. It is hardly, for example, a screed for nuclear power (he points out the difficulties of a nuclear renaissance and the absurdity of expecting it to save the world). Further, if Smil was in cahoots with the oil and coal world, his chapter debunking carbon capture and storage would hardly have been written. The conservative part of the book is, naturally enough, how slow things are to change in energy use: Smil doesn't really say whether this is a good thing or not; it is just how things are.

I would argue that he seriously underplays the prospects for energy conservation in tandem with strong leadership setting goals and frames in a deliberate move towards overall social transformation for the planetary good (and personal wellbeing). The final message of the book is horribly bleak, which the author (and publishers) seem not to notice. If Smil is right, then the lag times between now and the solution are so long that the planet is essentially cooked. He says nothing about this, just ends.

The fatal flaw in the book is the assumption that human beings and societies are incapable of radical change. Historically, this is untrue. We have Islam and the Russian Revolution as excellent examples of the world changed on a dime when the time is ripe. This can happen with energy: but it will require leadership and crisis and an ethical shift -- all three at once. Anything short of that (Smil is right here) will have so much inertia to fight against that it won't be able to do the job. But it is possible. Certainly the market won't do it -- at least it might if there was a free market, but there hasn't been one for two hundred years, and there won't be one any time soon. The fossil fuel barons who own the governments and institutions wouldn't let that happen. There is too much money and power at stake for anything to be left to something as fickle as the market. Someone might inform the American Enterprise Institute about that, if they have a moment.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book on the energy policy debate! September 16, 2012

By S. M. Jalali

Format:Hardcover

I liked the core idea, presented by Smil, that energy dreams are not properly connected to reality. He presents many cases to prove his beliefs and, I think, he fairly mentions useful quantitative results to support his ideas; however, there are some failures in his book that should be discussed.

Although he tries to think about problems scientifically, I would never name this book as 'bringing science to the energy policy debate', because his disagreements are not fully supported by science. In some parts he just reviews the history and based on that review argues an energy or technology forecast for the future. I absolutely agree with Smil on the importance of timing and extend of future adoption of new energy sources but, I believe, he does not provide enough scientific evidence in many cases to make his conclusion. For instance, he only reviews the maturity durations of oil and natural gas in the US and tries to convince his audiences that any new source of energy needs to wait for at least half a century to be used in the country. I was also surprised that he does not discuss about solar energy as much as other energy sources in his book, it seems he just ignored it.

Overall, I believe he did a better job in the first part than in the second part. His quick summation in the conclusion chapter notes some good advice that could be pretty useful for technical authors in the field of energy. Following such advice would reduce the number of publications that only play with some mathematical/statistical models and try to produce some forecast on the use of energy.