Power to the People: How the Coming Energy Revolution Will Transform Our Lives, Turn the Energy Business Upside down, and Perhaps Even Save Our Planet - Hardcover

Vaitheeswaran, Vijay

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374236755 ISBN 13: 9780374236755

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc, 2003

Synopsis

The energy debate typically consists of three camps who alternately argue that energy security is not necessary to worry about, that it is a threat but it can be addressed through developing non-OPEC sources of oil, or that it can only be addressed through conservation measures. The contending "relax, keep pumping, and ride your bicycle" camps all get it wrong, argues Vaitheeswaran (the energy and environmental correspondent for The Economist ). The solution to energy security, he believes, lies in the promotion of fuel cells and other technologies that will be unleashed by liberalized market forces, leading to a world in which micropower will be the number one source of energy for households and industry. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

About this title

Review:

As good a manifesto for the new energy world as you will find' Fred Pearce, New Scientist 'Vaitheeswaran's book is by far the most helpful, entertaining, up-to-date and accessible treatment of the energy-economy-environment problematique available' Scientific American 'Debunk[s] some of the 'truisms' currently spouted on both the left and the right [Vaitheeswaran's] lucid and entertaining book is informative and insightful' Publishers Weekly 'Offers a balance of international viewpoints from industry, environmental groups, politicians, regulators, and 'visionaries'...Readers wanting a change from the gloom and doom of some environmental writing will appreciate this work' Library Journal 'In the easy, fluent style that makes Vijay Vaitheeswaran so readable in The Economist, Power to the People examines the energy future, including the prospects for fossil fuels, with a calm rationality that will surely command the respect of people across the political spectrum. It does so in a spirit of optimism that doesn't prescribe a disruptive trade-off between preserving our environment and providing enough energy for continuing human progress' BP Chief Executive Lord Browne of Madingley 'Well reasoned, insightful and tempered. At a time when the whole world is increasingly worried about our energy future, Vaitheeswaran takes us on an engaging, and ultimately hopeful, exploratory journey, investigating the many choices that lie ahead' Jeremy Rifkin, author of The Hydrogen Economy 'Whether you are a pessimist, a sceptic or an optimist, Power to the People will challenge your assumptions without offering simplistic answers' Achim Steiner, IUCN - The World Conservation Union 'In a crucial area of public discourse that is too often dominated by flamethrowers from either side of the political spectrum, Power to the People provides a welcome relief: a balanced assessment of where we are, how we got here and where our actions today may be taking us in the years ahead' Robert N. Stavins, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

About the Author:

Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran is The Economist's Environment and Energy Correspondent, covering developments in politics, economics, business, and technology as they relate to energy issues. He has received awards for his journalism, and previously wrote about Latin America as the magazine's regional bureau chief in Mexico City. Born in Madras, India, he grew up in Cheshire, Connecticut and graduated from MIT with a degree in mechanical engineering. He now lives in New York.

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0374236755
• ISBN 13: 9780374236755
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 358