Customer Reviews

Lights Out!: Ten Myths About (and Real Solutions to) America's Energy Crisis

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Every election year, we hear politicians promising to make America "energy independent." But as former U.S. Secretary Spencer Abraham writes in his excellent and insightful new book "Lights Out: Ten Myths About (and Real Solutions To) America's Energy Crisis (St. Martin's Press): "We aren't ever going to provide ourselves with all our energy. We live in an interdependent world and we might as well get used to it." Neither Obama nor any other President going back Nixon has been totally candid about the fact that "energy independence" is a mirage, which ultimately leads policymakers to spend an inordinate amount of time and resources on unrealistic solutions to solve our energy crisis, from subsidizing ethanol to creating a "Manhattan project" for energy independence.

Instead, we must rid ourselves of this notion that energy independence can be ultimately achieved, and instead devise a more realistic strategy for cutting down some of our dependency on foreign oil and diversifying our sources of energy away from fossil fuels. In "Lights Out," Abraham outlines policy strategy to establish a power generation mix of 30 percent nuclear, 30 percent renewable sources (including hydropower) plus energy efficiency gains, and 30 percent natural gas by 2030, costing $150-250 billion over twenty years, which is far less costly than a cap-and-trade program or an EPA command-and-control regulatory approach advocated by President Obama.

It's a great read, and very timely as the Senate prepares to debate energy policy legislation.

Lights Out!: Ten Myths About (and Real Solutions to) America's Energy Crisis is a real page turner. The Former Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham provides insightful information about the issues and myths regarding our nation's energy issues. Unlike other books that deal with energy issues, this book really captures the reader's interest and is hard to put down. I highly recommend this book to anyone that is looking to become knowledgeable on America's energy crisis and how to possibly solve our problems. A must read!

I'm not sure what book the other reviewers read, but it must not have been this one. The first 90 pages can be thrown out completely. A boring mish-mash of outdated DOE slides pulled from a recycle bin that the author must have packed by mistake when he left office. The information may have some elements of fact, but leave out any substance and are extremely poorly presented. The author could have spent a few dollars on a Tufte seminar. The remaining portion of the book vacillates between dull, obvious political jibes and self-pity about what could be done if the politicians in charge and John Q Public were as smart as the author. I would have understood and survived a self-congratulating chapter on what he did of substance during his reign as Sec of Energy, but that wouldn't have added substantially to the number of pages in the book. In general, the book lacks substance and imagination and does little to address the real myths about energy. Even when solid data and studies exist for some of his ideas, he relies instead on vague arguments doing more harm than good.

Spencer Abraham is to be commended for his public service, but he is completely and utterly wrong about nuclear power. In the book, he dedicates an entire chapter to it - proclaiming that it's safe, that we should build another 50 of them, and that we, the taxpayers should take all the risk as well as put up 50% of the money.

Nothing can be more wrong. In light of the multiple meltdowns in Japan, Spencer's claim that nuclear power is safe is laughable. In fact, when the rubber meets the road, a plant melts down every ten years or so. Are we prepared for genetic damage this released radiation does to our offspring? Certainly not.

Additionally nuclear power creates a greenhouse gas footprint. The fuel cycle produces lots of CO2 and other green house gasses. And, we still haven't solved the nuclear waste issue. Can we leave sixty or eighty years of it at generator sites? If so, then what?

Why should we put up 50% of the cash to build these monstrosities? If the power generated were economical, private industry driven by capitalism would do the job.

Spencer also seems to blame NIMBY for just about everything. The California power crises? NIMBY. Spencer states because of NIMBY, California neglected its power infrastructure. But, then later in the book, Spencer admits he was naive and that Enron was indeed manipulating power prices.

Toward the end of the book, the author delivers his prescription for the future. It includes such things as allowing the Federal Government to site power lines anywhere they please, locals be damned. But perhaps I'm being too hard on the author and the Republicans. If I look at what Dr. Steven Chu (physicist, Nobel laureate, and current Secretary of Energy) has done with nuclear power, it's just as bad.