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The Dirty Energy Dilemma What's Blocking Clean Power in the United States

Benjamin K. Sovacool

Foreword by Marilyn A. Brown

Book Code: C35540

ISBN: 0-313-35540-1

ISBN-13: 978-0-313-35540-0

DOI:

Praeger Publishers

Publication: 10/30/2008

List Price: $44.95 (UK Sterling Price: £25.95)

Availability: Not yet published. (Estimated publication date, 10/30/2008)

Media Type: Hardcover

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

Subjects:

Endorsement From Dr. Art Rosenfeld,
Commissioner, California Energy Commission,
Recipient of the 2006 Enrico Fermi Award: An extensively researched, highly accessible, authoritative explanation of the challenges facing the American electric utility sector. The Dirty Energy Dilemma will stimulate debate about its content, and offers inspiration for those who seek to promote more progressive energy policy.
Endorsement From Dr. Hermann Scheer,
Member of the German Bundestag,
President of the European Association for Renewable Energy,
General Chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy, and the Recipient of the 1999 Right Livelihood Award.: This is a bold, provocative, and brilliant work that examines why wind, solar, and other clean power technologies have not penetrated the American electricity market, but it also provides a much-needed blueprint for how they could.
Endorsement From Kishore Mahbubani,
Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore,
Former Ambassador to the United Nations,
Author of The New Asian Hemisphere: The US wastes more energy from the inefficient production of electricity each year than Japan harnesses for its entire economy": this is just one of the many remarkable revelations in this volume. New energy policies are a global priority. The world desperately needs thinking in this area. This brilliant volume by Benjamin Sovacool will provide new insights and stimulate new debates. Its appearance could not be timelier. It should be read carefully by all, from academics to policymakers, from businessmen to journalists.
Endorsement From Paul Gipe,
Renewable energy advocate,
Author of Wind Energy Comes of Age: This is a book the President and his staff should read. They should give copies to every member of the House and Senate if they're to intelligently vote on energy policy. Insightful, clear, and forceful, Sovacool explains how America's renewable energy policy has been hijacked for 30 years and what we need to do to reclaim it for a safer, cleaner, and more secure country.
Endorsement From Dr. David E. Nye,
Professor of American Studies at the University of Southern Denmark,
Author of Consuming Power: A Social History of American Energies: In this timely work, Benjamin Sovacool explains both the alternative energy possibilities now available and the political, economic, and social impediments that the United States must overcome to create a clean energy society.
Endorsement From Michael Dworkin,
Professor of Law & Director,
Institute for Energy and the Environment, Vermont Law School: The Dirty Energy Dilemma offers a new insight into America's energy issues. Sovacool takes us past the oft-visited and necessary, but insufficient, questions of hardware and finance and into new terrain. By viewing the electric utility industry as a set of human interests and perceptions, Sovacool adds a vital element: cultural analysis. With a blend of sensitivity and bluntness, recognizing that "we have met the enemy and they are us', Sovacool outlines the perceptions-the paradigms-that have tied our minds to old and dirty energy choices. Shining a light on the ways that we have limited our thinking, he opens the chance for us, together, to go beyond our past and into a future that we consciously make far, far, better. We all-as analysts, as technologists, as economists, or as humans-owe Sovacool a thanks for showing us the limits of our thoughts, so we can transcend them in our future.

Description: The American electric utility system is quietly falling apart. Once taken for granted, the industry has become increasingly unstable, fragmented, unreliable, insecure, inefficient, expensive, and harmful to our environment and public health. According to Sovacool, the fix for this ugly array of problems lies not in nuclear power or clean coal, but in renewable energy systems that produce few harmful byproducts, relieve congestion on the transmission grid, require less maintenance, are not subject price volatility, and enhance the security of the national energy system from natural catastrophe, terrorist attack, and dependence on supply from hostile and unstable regions of the world. Here arises the Dirty Energy Dilemma: If renewable energy systems deliver such impressive benefits, why are they languishing in neglect at the margins of the American energy portfolio? And why does the US lag so far behind Europe, where conversion to renewable energy systems has already taken off in a big way? Corporate media parrot industry PR that renewable technologies just aren't ready for prime time. But Sovacool marshals extensive field research to show that the only barrier blocking the conversion of a significant proportion of the US energy portfolio to renewables is not technological--the technology is there--but institutional. Public utility commissioners, utility managers, system operators, business owners, and ordinary consumers are hobbled by organizational conservatism, technical incompatibility, legal inertia, weak and inconsistent political incentives, ill-founded prejudices, and apathy. The author argues that significant conversion to technologically proven clean energy systems can happen only if we adopt and implement a whole new set of policies that will target and dismantle the insidious social barriers that are presently blocking decisions that would so obviously benefit society.

Table of Contents:

Preface
Introduction
Chapter OneThe Big Four Energy Challenges
Chapter TwoThe Big Four Clean Solutions
Chapter ThreeFinancial and Market Impediments
Chapter FourPolitical and Regulatory Obstacles
Chapter FiveCultural and Behavioral Barriers
Chapter SixAesthetic and Environmental Challenges
Chapter SevenThe Big Four Policy Mechanisms
Chapter EightConclusions

LC Card Number: 2008023813

LCC Class: HD9685

Dewey Class: 333


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