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Green: Your Place in the New Energy Revolution

Green: Your Place in the New Energy Revolution a book by Jane Hoffman and Michael Hoffman (Palgrave Macmillan, June 2008) reframes the debate about global climate change [[1]] as one that is less about environmental than economic sustainability.

Summary

Jane Hoffman is Chairman of the Presidential Forum on Renewable Energy and was Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affiars in New York City. She was also the Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor for New York. Michael Hoffman was a senior partner at the Blackstone Group and his now managing director of Riverstone Holdings, LLC, where he manages the world's largest renewable energy fund. From the authors' position at the epicenter of the world's energy industry and policy-making boardrooms, they lead the reader through an analysis of the economic consequences of remaining dependent upon fossil fuel energy.

Beginning with the assumption that "it's unreasonable, if not downright irresponsible, to argue with the overwhelming consensus within the scientific community that tells us that levels of carbon dioxide [[2]]in the earth's atmosphere are rising and compromising our planet's climate[[3]]," the authors quickly move to make the obvious point that the excess of carbon dioxide [[4]] is a direct result of burning fossil fuels to create energy. But this energy, including electricity and automotive fuels, is critical to the functioning of the global economy, and our need for it is rapidly expanding: "According to Ernest J. Moniz, a professor of physics at the Massachusets Institute of Technology and a former under secretary of the Department of Energy, world oil consumption is forecast to increase by 60 percent over the period from 1999 to 2020: from 75 million barrels a day to 120 million barels a day. In the same period, global demand for electricity is predicted to grow by three-quarters, with the demand in developing Asia alone expected to grow by 150 percent. Using these forecasts, experts can tell us that 60 percent of the facilities we'll need in a mere twenty years to meet our energy needs are not yet even under construction."

Where are we going to get this energy, the Hoffmans ask. They posit that the large-scale adoption of renewable energy technologies is required not only to counter global warming but as a matter of international economic security.

The Hoffman's analyze our "Energy Present" (dominant use of fossil fuels and nuclear power) vis-a-vis our "Energy Future" (solar, wind, geothermal and hydroelectric power, biomass, and biofuels), but their "Big Idea" is that, contrary to contemporary public perception, "there are economic benefits in being green."

Solar Power

"The next generation of rooftop solar panels [[5]] is called thin film PV. These panels differ radically from the rigid, silicon-based models we're all growing used to. A company called Nanosolar, based in California, has developed a method of mass producing wafer-thin solar cells and printing them, as one would print a newspaper, onto aluminum foil. These solar 'sheets' require a fraction of the expensive semiconductor material used in the now-common polysilicon PV panels, and they are also flexible - two properties that greatly expand their potential applications. In fact, this aluminum film technique is expected to reduce the cost of accessing solar energy so it can compete [in cost] with coal-generated power - a detail that makes PV technology, for the first time, practical for utility scale grid operations."

Wind Power

"Today wind power [[6]] is the fastest-growing segment of the renewable energy industry. More than 90,000 wind turbines generate over 7.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually worldwide... The elusive wind isn't so elusive these days; it's an $11 billion global industry projected to grow by 27 percent a year."

Hydroelectric Power

"One of the reasons why hydroelectric power [[7]]has such a comfortable niche in our contemporary energy mix - and in our perceptions - is the lockstep progress of hydro technology and electrification of developed countries. It's been around for a long time. Remember that it was FDR, the father of American electrification, who called for hydroelectric power to be expanded in the 1930s as a source of cheap, clean electricity. Nowadays, hydroelectric giants, such as the 7,600-megawatt Grand Coulee power station on the Columbia River in the state of Washington and the 13,000-megawatt Itaipu Dan on the Parana River in Brazil, combine to provide 24 percent of the world's electricity. The global capacity from all hydroelectric facilities is 675,000 megawatts producing 2.9 trillion kilowatt-hours of power annually and - not incidentally - saving the world the equivalent of 1.7 billion barrels of oil each and every year."

Geothermal Power

"A 2006 report by MIT scientists, which takes into account the use of enhanced geothermal, estimates that there is enough energy in rock [[8]]just about five miles beneath the United States alone to supply all the world's electrical need at the current rate of demand for 30,000 years."

Biomass

"...right now, for example, the state of California produces more than 60 million tons of biomass [[9]] each year. Less than 10 percent of that total is burned to make electricity, but if all 60 million tons were used, it could generate nearly 2,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 2 million homes! Some studies estimate that in the entire United States... there is an available biomass of 1.3 billion tons per year."

Biofuels

The authors [[10]]

Biodiesel

"Biodiesel [[11]] is made from the oils that can be pressed from plants like peanuts, soybean, palm, or camelina [[12]], or from other fats, including animal fat and recycled restaurant french fry grease! As fortune and the science behind what makes biodiesel work would have it, biodiesel is free of two of the major issues that have so far prevented a wide and rapid adoption of ethanol use. Those issues are an infrastructure that can handle the delivery of the fuel to its market and vehicles that are equipped with engines that can run readily on the renewable fuel." Therefore, "...biodiesel is the fastest-growing sector of the renewable fuel market, with a record production of 250 million barrels in 2006 in the United States alone, and plans to move 3 billion gallons of the stuff through the existing infrastructure, to consumers, in the near future."

Ethanol

The authors don't hesitate to take on controversial topics. "All ethanol [[13]] is not created equal," they state and proceed to explain why corn-based ethanol is not an environmentally or economically sound answer to future fuel needs. However: "A study by Northwestern University found that the existing ethanol industry in the United States, which at the time of the study produced 1.5 billion gallons per year, increased net farm income more than $4.5 billion, boosted total employment by 192,000 jobs, improved the balance of trade by $2 billion, added over $450 million to state tax receipts, and resulted in a net federal budget savings of over $3.5 billion." As an alternative to corn ethanol, the authors propose cellulosic ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol is an umbrella term for the ethanol that's produced from lignocelluloses, a plant's structural material. "In the United States, in 2006, Congress passed an energy act calling for the doubling of the country's biofuel production to 7.5 billion gallons annually, by the year 2012. Judging by the estimated potential for [cellulosic ethanol production], that's not an ambitious goal. According to the National Resource Defense Council, the country could produce 165 billion gallons of ethanol from existing cropland - and still be able to meet other agricultural needs. The state of South Dakota alone has enough available land to produce 3.429 thousand barrels of cellulosic ethanol per day, enough to meet 30 percent of the country's total motor fuel needs - and, incidentally, make that one state the sole rival to Saudi Arabia as America's biggest energy supplier."

Reviews

“Accessible and surprisingly entertaining…a level-headed primer on the world to come.” Publishers Weekly

"Jane and Michael Hoffman have hit a bulls-eye with their rich mandala of a book, Green. Profoundly ambitious and packed with facts, figures and fancy, the book is at once a rich history lesson and an effective "greenprint" for the future. For our global environmental ills, the Hoffman's wisely prescribe an antidote of informed individual action complemented and facilitated by enlightened public policy." Rob Watson, Chariman, EcoTech International and Founder of LEED [[14]]

"Michael and Jane have come up with a uniquely personal account of today's energy revolution. It unravels the complexities of renewable energy and gives shape to today's policy debate." Lord John Browne of Madingley, retired CEO of British Petroleum

"Green is hot. But what does 'green' really mean? Jane and Michael Hoffman offer answers in their lively, proactive, high-energy exploration through 'green' and its many shades." Daniel Yergin, author of The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power

"Green is an exceptionally relevant, timely, and informative book. In clear and concise prose, Jane and Michael Hoffman offer critical understanding for the average person of the complexities of energy use and policy from local to the global level. This book brims with inspirational guidance and, above all, optimistic and hopeful knowledge that all of us can meaningfully incorporate into our lives." Stephen R. Kellert, Tweedy Ordway Professor of Social Ecology, Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies; Partner, Environmental Capital Partners.

External Links

[1] (http://www.2008energyforum.org/home)