Power Hungry: The Myths of "Green" Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future

Power Hungry: The Myths of "Green" Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future Review

Bryce bills himself as a purveyor of "industrial strength journalism," and 'Power Hungry' doesn't disappoint. Starting with a clear statement of his own energy policy - "I'm in favor of air conditioning and cold beer." - Bryce provides a muscular, data-driven analysis of our modern industrial civilization and the changing mix of energy sources that power it. This is an eye-opening discussion that does an unusually good job of conveying the scale of our existing energy infrastructure, and the challenge of providing adequate energy supplies for the future, not just for the US and Europe, but for the developing world and the third world as well, under the constraints of economics and decarbonization.

Bryce articulate four energy imperatives - power density, energy density, cost, and scale - and uses them as a consistent framework for looking at what he calls the "Myths of Green Energy." His "myths" run the gamut from the idea that wind power can really reduce overall CO2 emissions, to the idea that the US lags other countries in energy efficiency, to the idea that carbon capture and sequestration could work at scale, and intriguingly, even the idea that oil is a dirty fuel compared to the alternatives. While the debunking of green alternatives has flaws, especially in the lack of attention to advanced biofuels, smart grid technologies, and green building materials, it is refreshingly apolitical - focused on facts, practical alternatives, and the requirements of scale.

In some ways Bryce ends up with conclusions similar to those of Bill McKibben in his recent book 'Eaarth' - we will not be able to turn the tide on atmospheric CO2 quickly enough: the scale is too large, the transition times are too long, the pressure for global development is too great. We will have no choice but to mitigate some problems and adapt to the rest. However, instead of advocating acceptance of a "graceful decline" as McKibben does, Bryce lays out an energetic path forward, a "no regrets" policy he dubs N2N: shifting electrical generation aggressively towards natural gas in the near term, while investing in advanced nuclear technologies for the long run. The strongest element of the book is how he effectively links the future economic health of the US with rising prospects for the rest of the world ... and the massive quantities of carbon-free power that will require, not only for economic development, but for mitigating unavoidable climate change impacts as well. 'Power Hungry' is a challenging and valuable read for everyone interested in green energy and an effective response to the climate crisis.

Power Hungry: The Myths of "Green" Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future Feature

• ISBN13: 9781586487898
• Condition: New
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Power Hungry: The Myths of "Green" Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future Overview

The promise of “green jobs” and a “clean energy future” has roused the masses. But as Robert Bryce makes clear in this provocative book, that vision needs a major re-vision. We cannot—and will not—quit using carbon-based fuels at any time in the near future for a simple reason: they provide the horsepower that we crave. The hard reality is that oil, coal, and natural gas are here to stay.

Fueling our society requires more than sentiment and rhetoric; we need to make good decisions and smart investments based on facts. In Power Hungry, Bryce provides a supertanker-load of footnoted facts while shepherding readers through basic physics and math. And with the help of a panoply of vivid graphics and tables, he crushes a phalanx of energy myths, showing why renewables are not green, carbon capture and sequestration won’t work, and even—surprise!—that the U.S. is leading the world in energy efficiency. He also charts the amazing growth of the fuels of the future: natural gas and nuclear.

Power Hungry delivers a clear-eyed view of what America has “in the tank,” and what’s needed to transform the gargantuan global energy sector.

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