Energizing our future – rational choices for the 21st century
by John R. Wilson and Griffin Burgh, Hoboken, NJ, Wiley Interscience, 2008, 390 pp., £50.50 (hard cover), ISBN 978‐0‐471‐79053‐2
First of all, I greatly enjoyed this book based on its capacity to challenge, in particular, European and indeed UK thinking on energy and environmental issues. Its main contents present what might be perceived as down to earth assessments of the realities of climate change, and in particular two of the potential remediation actions (the roles of hydrogen and nuclear energy) and their subsequent shortfalls and indeed pitfalls. There is then what appears to be a strong focus on transport fuels with oil, bioethanol, methanol, biodiesel and fuel cells, interspersed with ‘clean coal’ technologies for electricity generation. The book concludes with an FAQ session on energy and hydrogen. The Photovoltaic section seems somewhat out of place given the overall transport/large scale generation approach that the book takes.
However, this book is not an advocate of a ‘business as usual’ approach commonly encountered as a backlash to environmentally led energy discussions. It appears to be an advocate of ‘rational change’ rather than ‘step change’ often favoured by EU policy drivers. However this approach can leave the reader somewhat uncomfortable with the choices presented. The emphasis on fossil fuel improvements is most welcome as is its holistic view on the ‘dimming of nuclear energy’. Its view on the ‘hydrogen economy’ is challenging to parts of the world, in particular the UK, which often views fuel cells and hydrogen as a major contributor to meeting the UK's Kyoto commitments.
In reviewing oil and gas reserves, the challenge the book lays down is one of increasing reserves by utilising unconventional supplies. Cost and extraction technology development, which encompasses environmental remediation measures, will dictate the rate of use of unconventional supplies so while such technologies and approaches exist, this section will always date very quickly.
In my opinion, there are a number of in‐depth presentations lacking which include energy efficiency, wind energy and energy storage. While energy efficiency technology descriptions would make the book so large it would be incomprehensible, mechanisms that drive energy efficiency, e.g. policies, etc. on a generic scale would set a stronger scene for the role of the technologies presented in the 21st century. Wind energy will play an increasing role in many areas of the world and due to its non‐despatchable nature, leads to another major omission, one that compliments the wide scale deployment of solar energy, and that is energy storage. Hydrogen can fulfil that role in part and is well documented within the text, but other scales of less volatile technologies exist that may complement other aspects of society other than transport.
Therefore, in conclusion I would recommend this text, in spite of my comments, for undergraduate energy studies because, despite the omissions, the book does attempt to challenge the reader and when read with other viewpoints, a greater insight will be achieved.
Neil J. Hewitt
Centre for Sustainable Technologies
University of Ulster, UK
© N. J. Hewitt