Keeping the Lights On : Towards Sustainable Electricity

ISBN-13: 9781844074563 / Angielski / Twarda / 2007 / 170 str.

Walter C. Patterson; Walt Patterson

Opis

We are making a mess of energy. What we're doing with it is leaving people in the dark and endangering the planet. But we could do much better. Keeping the Lights On shows how. In immediate, accessible, everyday language it describes a different way to think about energy, what we want from it and how we get it. Drawn from over 35 years of work from one of the leading voices in the field, the book describes how we have persisted in getting energy and electricity wrong. It suggests how we could go about getting them right, improving energy security and services while reducing costs and vulnerability, globally and rapidly. It offers a concise, focused and coherent presentation of an important central thesis: that electricity is an infrastructure issue, so we have to stop treating it as a commodity issue. The book discusses the timely and heated debates surrounding energy in an accessible and entertaining tone. It also includes a guide to terminology and a list of key organizations and contacts in the field. It gives a comprehensive introduction to the most important issues, providing the reader with innovative and expert ideas and solutions. K eeping the Lights On challenges sterile and damaging misconceptions, with an exhilarating vision of a brighter future. We can make energy use more reliable, more equitable, and more sustainable, for ourselves and our children, starting with electricity, starting now. "Combining extraordinary historical insight with the sharpest analysis of where we are now, Walt Patterson carves out the most applied and practical of 'road maps' as to where we need to go if we are to deliver a genuinely sustainable electricity system for the future."--Jonathon Porritt CBE, chair, UK Sustainable Development Commission "Clearly thought out, simply written, and straight to the heart of the major issues in energy today."--Ronan Palmer, chief economist, UK Environment Agency

Spis treści

Preface * Acknowledgements * Introduction Towards Sustainable Electricity * Part 1: Making Energy Sustainable * Making the World Work * The Energy Dilemma * Rethinking Energy * Part 2: Making Electricity Sustainable * Full Circle * The Electric Challenge * Generating Change * Networking Change * Decentralizing networks * Getting the Story Right * Getting Energy Right * Sustainable Electricity: Changing Minds * Annex 1: Running the Planet * Annex 2: Discussing Energy: A Style Guide * Annex 3: Glossary * Annex 4: Further Information * Index

O autorze

Walt Patterson trained as a nuclear physicist before spending his life teaching, writing and campaigning. He has published twelve books and several hundred papers, articles and reviews on nuclear power, coal technology, renewable energy, energy systems, energy policy and electricity. Since 1991 he has been a fellow of what is now the Energy, Environment and Development Programme at Chatham House in London.