Earth: The Sequel – The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming by Fred Krupp. 

3/5 rating.

Book #136 of 2019. Read November 30, 2019.

This book delves into a vast array of technologies that are being developed to combat global warming.Though I thought this was somewhat interesting, it got too into the weeds on many of the technologies – and remember, this is from an eco-minded engineer… I certainly learned a decent amount about some of the tech that might be able to save our future, but I think there are much better books out there about this kind of info. It did drive home the importance of implementing some kind of market-based leveling to more fairly price in carbon (cap-and-trade, carbon tax etc.). As Fred stated: “The market has to demand it. The power industry doesn’t go beyond what it’s required to achieve.” 

Unless you are a nerdy engineer or really into the actual functioning of the future environmental technologies, you can probably skip this book.

Quotes:

“‘When you were talking to the president about this cap-and-trade idea, I frankly thought you’d lost it,’ he said to Fred. ‘But now that there’s a way to make money from cutting pollution, I have a dozen proposals for emissions reductions from my own employees on the shop floor, and a dozen more from outside consultants. The environment isn’t just a money loser – it’s a profit center. I have to admit it’s a powerful law.’”

“Within five years, U.S. utilities cut emissions 30 percent more than the law required, even while increasing electric generation from coal by 6.8 percent and reducing retail electricity prices. During that same period, the U.S. economy grew by a healthy 5.4 percent. Dire predictions that the program would eventually cost more than $6 billion a year proved wildly off base; recent studies peg the actual cost at between $1.1 and $1.8 billion. And by 2000, scientists were documenting decreased sulfates in Adirondack lakes, improved visibility in national parks, and widespread benefits to human health.”

“A 2006 study by engineering consultant firm Black & Veatch found that solar thermal plants create twice as many jobs as coal and gas plants and produce eight times the retained revenues in the states in which they are located.”

“To fill one 25-gallon tank with corn ethanol requires enough grain to feed one person for an entire year.”

“The Amyris researchers dismissed corn-based ethanol as too flawed: its energy density is just 70 percent that of gasoline; it requires huge amounts of energy to separate the 10 percent of ethanol (the grain alcohol) produced from the 90 percent fermentation steep (the beer); and because it is miscible with water, and there is always some water in pipelines, it must be transported in fuel-burning trucks to avoid dilution.”

“If the world continues along its current course, the U.S. Department of Energy predicts, global coal consumption will almost double by 2030. The potential consequences for the environment are sobering to contemplate: if burned in conventional plants, carbon dioxide emissions from coal over just the next twenty-five years will exceed total coal emissions from the last two and half centuries.”

“The market has to demand it. The power industry doesn’t go beyond what it’s required to achieve.”

“A November 2007 report published by McKinsey & Company found that the United States could cut projected greenhouse gas emissions almost in half by 2030 without major new technology or lifestyle changes, provided we have the right policy incentives and start soon. Fully 40 percent of those reductions would more than pay for themselves, creating net savings. Efficiency would provide about a third of the total.”

“The United States has lagged behind other developed countries on this score. While the whole European fleet averaged 44.2 miles a gallon in 2007, and Japanese cars edged above 45 miles per gallon, the U.S. Congress finally agreed to require American cars and light trucks to average 35 miles a gallon – by 2020.”

“As the nation responsible for the largest portion (nearly 30 percent) of man-made greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere, the United States has the obligation to lead. And as the richest nation on earth, and the sole superpower in economic as well as geopolitical terms, the United States has the unique ability to lead. Developing nations racing to modernize cannot be expected to act if the largest and richest emitter will not. Some argue that the United States should not make a move until China or India do. But the United States has never followed China’s lead in foreign policy – nor should it do so now.”

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