Green: Your Place in the New Energy Revolution
Green illustrates and sheds new light on the gamut of issues associated with renewable energy, a topic whose importance increases exponentially with every temperature record-setting year. Jane and Michael Hoffman use their years of experience to explain the technological and economic future of this ecologically significant issue. They incisively explain its politics: what countries are doing right now and, most importantly, what the U.S. should be doing. Green will cut through the hype and...
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Green illustrates and sheds new light on the gamut of issues associated with renewable energy, a topic whose importance increases exponentially with every temperature record-setting year. Jane and Michael Hoffman use their years of experience to explain the technological and economic future of this ecologically significant issue. They incisively explain its politics: what countries are doing right now and, most importantly, what the U.S. should be doing. Green will cut through the hype and polemics surrounding ecologically friendly technologies and present the unvarnished truth. It will guide the reader through the misinformation and confusion over global warming, and demonstrate the degree to which renewable energy can be part of the solution. Publishers Weekly According to the authors of this optimistic assessment of the global energy crisis, the current gluttonous dependence on nonrenewable fossil fuels is merely an ecologically ruinous interlude between "energy ages." In the authors' decidedly long view, mankind survived for centuries without much need for oil, coal and natural gas—although humans were using all three in limited fashion as early as 3000 B.C., petroleum was first pumped from a well in Pennsylvania only in 1859—and can do so again. The Hoffmans argue that as technology improves efficiencies, solar fields, wind farms, geothermal drilling and biomass crops will replace fossil fuels as energy sources, a process driven as much by economic self-interest as by pressure for a more sane environmental future. They dismiss both the hydrogen economy and corn-based ethanol as unfeasible energy sources, but suggest that an African weed, jatropha, has the potential to turn "that poverty-stricken continent into the Saudi Arabia of biofuel." Accessible and surprisingly entertaining, this informed overview of available paths to relatively pollution-free energy resources is a level-headed primer on the world to come. (July)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Introduction: Even Dogs Can See in Green 1Green Money 11Energy Present 27Renewable Energy, A Primer 57Power Playing 73Power to the People 115Fuelish Choices 129Creating a Renewable Industry 159Technologies that Don't Exist Yet 181The Global Low-Carbon Economy 193The Green Standard: Best Practices 203Conclusion: The Green Economy 229Source Notes 235Index 245
\ Publishers WeeklyAccording to the authors of this optimistic assessment of the global energy crisis, the current gluttonous dependence on nonrenewable fossil fuels is merely an ecologically ruinous interlude between "energy ages." In the authors' decidedly long view, mankind survived for centuries without much need for oil, coal and natural gas—although humans were using all three in limited fashion as early as 3000 B.C., petroleum was first pumped from a well in Pennsylvania only in 1859—and can do so again. The Hoffmans argue that as technology improves efficiencies, solar fields, wind farms, geothermal drilling and biomass crops will replace fossil fuels as energy sources, a process driven as much by economic self-interest as by pressure for a more sane environmental future. They dismiss both the hydrogen economy and corn-based ethanol as unfeasible energy sources, but suggest that an African weed, jatropha, has the potential to turn "that poverty-stricken continent into the Saudi Arabia of biofuel." Accessible and surprisingly entertaining, this informed overview of available paths to relatively pollution-free energy resources is a level-headed primer on the world to come. (July)\ Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalShe is a policy wonk specializing in consumer issues; he is managing director of a leading renewable energy fund. They provide a good general discussion of energy issues (particularly renewables), take a fascinating look at emerging technologies, and offer some sensible solutions to the crisis (e.g., do something about oil subsidies, keep pressure on elected officials to enact sound energy policy). This is a light read, suitable for most collections. Some readers will warm to the authors' chatty style, but others may find it irritatingly chummy.\ \ —Robert Eagan\ \
