The Great Transition: Shifting from Fossil Fuels to Solar and Wind Energy

by Lester R. Brown, Emily Adams (Editor), Janet Larsen (Editor), J Matthew Roney (Editor)

Overview

The great energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy is under way.

As oil insecurity deepens, the extraction risks of fossil fuels rise, and concerns about climate instability cast a shadow over the future of coal, a new world energy economy is emerging. The old economy, fueled by oil, natural gas, and coal is being replaced with one powered by wind, solar, and geothermal energy.

The Great Transition details the accelerating pace of this global energy revolution. As many countries become less enamored with coal and nuclear power, they are embracing an array of clean, renewable energies. Whereas solar energy projects were once small-scale, largely designed for residential use, energy investors are now building utility-scale solar projects. Strides are being made: some of the huge wind farm complexes under construction in China will each produce as much electricity as several nuclear power plants, and an electrified transport system supplemented by the use of bicycles could reshape the way we think about mobility.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393350555
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	04/20/2015
Pages:	194
Sales rank:	561,415
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Lester R. Brown is the founder of the Earth Policy and Worldwatch Institutes. He has been honored with numerous prizes, including a MacArthur Fellowship, the United Nations Environment Prize, and twenty-five honorary degrees. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Janet Larsen is an author and the director of research for Earth Policy Institute. She has written on topics ranging from natural resources availability to population growth and climate change. Prior to the creation of Earth Policy Institute, Janet worked at Worldwatch Institute, providing research support for State of the World and contributing to Vital Signs.

Editorial Reviews

As the climate changes, global energy prospects change too. Waning supplies of oil, the destabilizing forces of dirty fossil fuels and coal, and the dangers of nuclear power have all become harbingers of the revolution described in this new book. That great transition, already underway, is replacing old power sources with new, cleaner ones. As the authors of this trade paperback note, the shift from fossil fuels to wind, solar, and geothermal energy holds implications for all of us. A hopeful, timely book.

05/15/2015
Brown, esteemed global environmental issues analyst and author of 51 books, is retiring, and his Earth Policy Institute is soon to be shuttered. As his swan song, it is hard not to see in this book some quiet satisfaction in the changes Brown foresees as the shift to renewables advances. That move, he claims, is just starting and will accelerate as the costs of clean technologies fall, such that "we are looking at the prospect of a half-century's worth of change within the next decade." A chapter each is devoted to old energy sources (oil, coal, nuclear) and the reasons why they're on the way out (finite, dirty, expensive). Wind, solar, geothermal, and hydropower are discussed in terms of global adoption rates, key technological features, and likely future trends. Social attitudes toward renewables are scarcely noted. This short book reads long: the cumulative effect of paragraph after paragraph of figures (world and national rankings, monetary values, megawattage, etc.) can be stupefying—an infographic or two might have provided some relief. VERDICT Despite its density, this is a reliable discussion starter on the changing world energy economy.—Robert Eagan, Windsor P.L., Ont.

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