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Narrated by Rory Barnett
Henry SandersonUnabridged — 9 hours, 23 minutes
Narrated by Rory Barnett
Henry SandersonUnabridged — 9 hours, 23 minutes
In the twentieth century, wealth and power was dictated by access to oil. This century will have different kingmakers, perhaps different wars.
We depend on a handful of metals and rare earths to power our phones and computers. Increasingly, we rely on them to power our cars and our homes. Whoever controls these finite commodities will become rich beyond imagining.
Sanderson journeys to meet the characters, companies, and nations scrambling for the new resources, linking remote mines in the Congo and Chile's Atacama Desert to giant Chinese battery factories, shadowy commodity traders, secretive billionaires, and a new generation of scientists attempting to solve the dilemma of a “greener” world.
‘Takes us on a carefully considered and well explained journey to show that [the switch to electric vehicles] may not be as simple a transition as we hoped for... Sanderson does a good job of getting the reader up to speed in terms of what goes into an electric battery, and why we need to be cognisant of the environmental impacts... very informative and well written in terms of the potentially toxic brew required to power EVs... a relevant and vital book.’
‘It’s a vital contribution to the emerging literature that’s pulling back the curtain on energy realities.’
'A fascinating study'
'A remarkably hopeful and useful book...The climate crisis leaves us no choice but to build a new world and as Sanderson makes clear, we are capable of making it a better one than the dirty and dangerous planet we’ve come to take for granted.'
‘The urgency of a green transition means the world faces new power struggles over access to scarce metals and minerals. Sanderson carefully walks us through the minefields that are the world's finite supplies of lithium, cobalt and nickel and reveals with startling immediacy the Machiavellian machinations for control over these precious resources. A riveting guide to our perilous future.’
'Volt Rush makes a great contribution in understanding what a green future entails—and what costs it might involve right now.’
'A remarkably hopeful and useful book...The climate crisis leaves us no choice but to build a new world and as Sanderson makes clear, we are capable of making it a better one than the dirty and dangerous planet we’ve come to take for granted.'
‘This is a terrific book. Henry Sanderson brings alive one of the most fateful questions of our time: who will control the resources that power a post-carbon world? What makes the book so compelling is the cast of colourful characters he meets and the insightful judgements he makes.’
‘A potent reminder to green power advocates that a world running on batteries and sunshine may not fight over oil, but it won’t necessarily be free of conflict’
‘A must-read book, well written and investigated, on one of the most important ecological challenges we’ll face in the next decades.’
'An excellent book...provides much food for thought'
‘As we glide along serenely in our electric vehicle, recharging it with clean solar power and perhaps feeling a little smug, we prefer not to be reminded of the vast industries that got us there, industries that gouge out the landscape, exploit workers, spew carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and engage in ruthless geopolitical power plays. Along the way, as Henry Sanderson shows in his essential book, we have become dangerously dependent on China which now dominates global battery supply. Under President Xi Jinping, who uses economic blackmail to extract political concessions, China has got a lock on the future. All this can change and Volt Rush shows us how.’
‘From China to Congo to Chile to the U.S., Sanderson lucidly reveals the global connections behind the complex processes of battery production and mining... Any reader interested in environmental studies, green politics, the global energy sector, or the mining industry will appreciate Sanderson's deep dive into the transition from fossil fuels to green and clean energy, and how this transition will affect society now and in the near future.’
'Sanderson’s smooth, limpid storytelling brightens the deadening business of commodities trading: attention to the bizarre, often unpleasant characters populating the industry gives his narrative a personable shine.'
Rory Barnett's narration strikes a hopeful tone in this evenhanded look at the past and future of green vehicles. With his clipped BBC accent, Barnett details the high cost and human capital of green vehicle development, along with the environmental impact of acquiring the raw materials needed. A Tesla, for example, uses a mile of copper wiring, and at the rate we are consuming copper, we're expected to use more in the next 25 years than humans have used in the last 5,000 years. Just as John D. Rockefeller and the oil barons profited from the internal combustion engine, newly minted billionaires have emerged who control the mining and distribution of lithium, cobalt, and other minerals essential in reducing fossil fuels. Despite the frightening geopolitical scramble for these resources, the message remains positive. R.W.S. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
| BN ID: | 2940175172530 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Blackstone Audio, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 09/13/2022 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
