Download Power to the People: How the Coming Energy Revolution Will Transform an Industry, Change Our Lives and Maybe Even Save the Planet (Risk, Society and Policy) fb2, epub

by Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran

ISBN: 1844071766
Author: Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran
Language: English
Publisher: Earthscan (January 3, 2005)
Pages: 368
Category: Engineering
Subcategory: Engineering
Rating: 4.4
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Size Fb2: 1647 kb
Size ePub: 1445 kb
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Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran Engineering English

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Read Power to the People by Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran for free with a 30. .Introduction: The Coming Energy Revolution. THIS BOOK IS about the future of our planet

Read unlimited books and audiobooks on the web, iPad, iPhone and Android. A guided tour of a revolution in the making that promises to change our lives. THIS BOOK IS about the future of our planet. The needlessly filthy and inefficient way we use energy is the single most destructive thing we do to the environment.

Power to the People book. The Economist's Environment and Energy correspondent, Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran sees great opportunity in the energy realm today, and he documents an energy revolution already under way.

Introduction : the coming energy revolution - Market forces : the invisible hand ascendant. Micropower: Thomas Edison's dream revived - Enron vs. Exxon, or, the sleeping giants awaken - Why California went . s - Oil, the most dangerous addiction - Environmental pressures : the green dilemma. Welcome to global weirding - Clearing the air - Adam Smith meets Rachel Carson - Energy technology : bigger than the Internet .

Power to the People" is an exception to that rule. Power to the People is the best and most important book on global environmental issues since The Ecology of Commerce. Vijay Vaitheeswaran, a mechanical engineer and the energy and environment correspondent for The Economist, brings a sensible and interdisciplinary perspective and looks clearly into the future of energy. According to Mr. Vaitheeswaran, there are two trends that are transforming the energy world: the decentralization of supply and the liberalization of markets.

We are republishing it because of reports that Pres. Barack Obama has picked Holden as his science adviser. For more by Holden, see "The Future of Climate Change Policy: The . s Last Chance to Lead.

Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran is an award-winning correspondent for The Economist. In 2003 he published Power to the People, How the Coming Energy Revolution will Change our Lives, and maybe even Save the Planet. The book pays particular attention to alternative fuel sources, such as those used in the Tesla Roadster (2008) and plug-in hybrids. The book also examines the benefits of distributed power and smart grids. Vaitheeswaran. 5. theft in history for using its military presence in Saudi Arabia to keep oil prices down.

Climate change, power failures, tanker spills and energy wars: our profligate ways have doomed us to suffer such tragedies, right? Perhaps, but Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran, the environment and energy correspondent for The Economist sees great opportunity in the energy realm and Power to the People is his fiercely independent and irresistibly entertaining look at the economic, political and technological forces that are reshaping the world's management of energy resources. In it, he documents an energy revolution already underway and exposes both the enormous risks to humanity and planet Earth and the massive opportunities and rewards afforded by our insatiable hunger for energy. From the corporate boardroom of a Texas oil titan who denies the reality of global warming to the Rocky Mountain Institute where visionary Amory Lovins is developing hydrogen fuel-cell technology that could make the internal combustion engine obsolete, Vaitheeswaran gamely pursues the people who hold the keys to our future. It is clear that the quest for energy is insatiable. Yet it is also essential. By avoiding the traditional divide that pits free marketers against the wisdom of conservation and the need for clean energy, Power to the People debunks myths without debunking hope.

Comments:

Mightsinger

Debates about the environment, more so than other topics, tend to be hijacked by political agendas and ideological entrenchments, leaving laymen with no clear understanding of where we are or where we are headed. "Power to the People" is an exception to that rule. Vijay Vaitheeswaran, a mechanical engineer and the energy and environment correspondent for The Economist, brings a sensible and interdisciplinary perspective and looks clearly into the future of energy.
According to Mr. Vaitheeswaran, there are two trends that are transforming the energy world: the decentralization of supply and the liberalization of markets. The former signals the move away from the grid and other economies-of-scale type power generators that place a premium on big size. The future of energy will be towards micropower, which is flexible and produced as close to the point of consumption as possible.
Even more important is the liberalization of the energy market. Carbon taxes, for example, are necessary to account for the environmental effects of carbon-based energy sources. But this liberalization cannot be half-hearted as it was in California, Mr. Vaitheeswaran warns; not only is it important to "get prices right," but it is also vital to dispel the notion that energy is too important to be left to the markets.
Once these two conditions are in place, it is very likely that we can reach some zero emissions utopia. Mr. Vaitheeswaran places his money on hydrogen and for good reason. But there is no hope, he cautions, of getting there unless we understand that the energy market behaves just like any other market, where correct pricing and innovation are the only way to provide people with the kind of energy they want.

FireWater

This book is as excellent an introduction to the topic of the future of energy as any book on the market. This statement, however, is more a reflection of the lack of alternatives to Power to the People as it is of the book's own strengths. To be certain, it is a well-written and smartly researched book. One would expect nothing less from a writer from The Economist. It's strongest point is to so thoroughly make the case for why the energy sector must change in the next decades. The pollution and inefficiency that the modern subsidization of the carbon-based energy economy creates harms global welfare. However, its greatest weakness is to skimp on the details as to how the energy sector should transform itself. This book does not go into how solar energy works, or what government policies concerning wind energy should be. In fact in doesn't even survey the prospects for renewable energy, by say, arguing that solar cells are the future. Rather it puts forth a well reasoned case that the days of carbon-based fuels must end, and that governments must stop the carbon subsidy and research alternatives. End of story. In fact its most interesting chapters don't concern energy at all but have to do with reconciling the philosophies of capitalism with those of environmentalism, as task that the author does quite well. A good starting point for those interested in the future of energy, but if you're looking for more specific forecast of how global energy production will or should be composed in the future, look elsewhere.

I love Mercedes

If you are looking for a relentlessly optimistic market-oriented analysis of the energy future, this is the book for you. It is well-written, entertaining, and informative. If, however, you are looking for a well-reasoned resonse to the arguments of Kenneth Deffeyes, Hubbert's Peak, David Goodstein's, Out of Gas, or Richard Heinberg's, The Party's Over, you will be disappointed. Vaitheeswaran never addresses their arguments. Rather, he dismisses them without so much as a by your leave. For example his analysis of the question as to whether we are facing an age of sharply increasing energy costs due ever decreassing rates of recovery of fossil fuels consists of a series of quotes from the optimists. His conclusion? Don't worry, be happy! Happily, or unhappily, the next ten years will tell us whether we should have heeded the "Chicken Littles." Unfortunately, if they are right it will be too late. In fact, it is probably already too late.

Dawncrusher

Power to the People is the best and most important book on global environmental issues since The Ecology of Commerce. Here at Aspen Skiing Company, we're making it mandatory reading for all senior executives. It's balanced but hits the crucial issue of our time--energy use--dead on; it provides a grounded, sensible perspective on climate change that few could disagree with; and it's a major service to people and organizations trying to get the corporate world, government, and individuals moving towards action on climate change and cleaner energy sources. This landmark book will become part of the sustainable business canon, along with the Ecology of Commerce, Natural Capitalism, Cradle to Cradle, and Cool Companies.

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Download Power to the People: How the Coming Energy Revolution Will Transform an Industry, Change Our Lives and Maybe Even Save the Planet (Risk, Society and Policy) fb2, epub

by Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran

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