Energy Unbound: A Fable for America's Future [Hardcover]

L. Hunter Lovins (Author), Amory B. Lovins (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Here is a wealth of information about energy, its efficient use and our choices, presented as a fable of sorts. The technique does not work. The authors, who are alternative energy spokesmen, introduce an ordinary Iowa housewife, Eunice Bunnyhut, newly appointed Secretary of Energy (the President wants a fresh, commonsense approach). Bewildered by the conflicting views of her assistant secretaries relayed at their first official meeting, she soon meets Duncan Jefferson Holt, an Energy Department scientist, who offers to enlighten her. For two weeks he discusses energy topics in detail, and Eunice responds with simple analogies from her own life (bake sales and the like). If the authors intended to show that anybody can learn about energy, perhaps they have succeeded. This energy primer is condescending"she rolled the thought of a greenhouse around her housewifely brain"and irritating. It will take a determined reader to stick with Eunice and Duncan; at the end, she uses her new knowledge to shake up the department and set it on the right path. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This is an energy primer for the citizen who feels that energy policy is "gobbledygook," better left to the Washington decision-makers. For those policymakers who are willing to look at the situation with openness and humor, it also offers a deceptively simple attempt to disentangle the skein of energy problems. The text, by authorities in the field of alternative energy, is a parable about a mid-Western housewife who becomes the Secretary of Energy. However, the narrative is both well-documented and based in fact, and it touches on many related problems, such as acid rain and indoor air pollution. The lesson illustrated by the parable? It is best for all, from the householder to the utility company, to have all the necessary information in order to make energy decisions on the basis of least-cost economics. Recommended. Diane M. Brown, Univ. of California at Berkeley Libs.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 390 pages
• Publisher: Random House, Inc.; 1st edition (March 12, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871568209
• ISBN-13: 978-0871568205
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,711,257 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Our Energy Needs simplified, February 26, 2010

By 

William A. Eiffler "Wm Eiffler" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Energy Unbound: A Fable for America's Future (Hardcover)

The Lovins have did a fantastic job of breaking down our energy needs into 3 categories: heating, mobile and electrical. Anytime you try and convert one type to another, you are going to lose a significant amount of energy in the conversion. While the book is getting long in the tooth (1980's) the principles are still the same in 2010's. We still have so much "low hanging fruit to pick" before we need to take on the grandiose schemes like adding more nuclear powered plants. Many houses are still not even close to energy efficient. If a house on the Oregon coast can be built as a net-zero energy house, then they can be built almost anywhere, but it is still, one house here, one house there. Apartments and rental properties tend to be the last on anyone's list to improve, but one of the worst sink holes for energy, for people who can least afford it.