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

"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.'" Publishers Weekly (Copyright PWyxz LLC)