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Power hungry : the myths of "green" energy and the real fuels of the future

by Bryce, Robert.

Format: Print Book 2010
Availability: Available at 3 Libraries 3 of 3 copies

Available (3)
Location Collection Call #
CLP - Main Library Mezzanine - Non-fiction HD9502.5.C542 B79 2010
Location  CLP - Main Library
 
Collection  Mezzanine - Non-fiction
 
Call Number  HD9502.5.C542 B79 2010
 
 
Carnegie Library of Homestead Non Fiction 333.79 Bryc
Location  Carnegie Library of Homestead
 
Collection  Non Fiction
 
Call Number  333.79 Bryc
 
 
Monroeville Public Library Non-fiction 333.79 BRYCE
Location  Monroeville Public Library
 
Collection  Non-fiction
 
Call Number  333.79 BRYCE
 
 

Summary
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.
Published Reviews
Publisher's Weekly Review: "Journalist Bryce, author of Gusher of Lies and managing editor of online industry newsmagazine Energy Tribune, is nothing if not polemical. While his swings are sometimes familiar ("The essence of protecting the environment can be distilled to a single phrase: Small is beautiful") and sometimes bizarre ("The world isn't using too much oil. It's not using enough"), the points he raises merit serious consideration. In this informed, opinionated state-of-the-industry overview, Bryce contends that energy policy must be based upon four imperatives: "power density, energy density, cost and scale." Wind and solar power, he says, fail those standards due to storage problems and the vagaries of weather; Denmark, the poster child for renewable energy, nevertheless imports hydroelectric power from Norway and Sweden, relies heavily upon North Sea oil and coal, and increased its greenhouse gas emissions by 2.1 percent between 1990 and 2006. Pointing to the environmental cost of hydropower ("ruining habitats for aquatic life"), oil spills, and coal mining, Bryce makes a strong case for heavier reliance upon natural gas, a relatively clean and readily available carbon fuel, as a bridge technology: "The smartest, most forward-looking U.S. energy policy can be summed up in one acronym: `N2N'," for "natural gas to nuclear power." (May) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information."

Additional Information
Subjects Clean energy industries.
Power resources -- Forecasting.
Publisher New York :PublicAffairs,2010
Edition 1st ed.
Language English
Description xix, 394 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Bibliography Notes Includes bibliographical references (pages 373-375) and index.
ISBN 9781586487898 (alk. paper)
1586487892 (alk. paper)
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