Selected for J.P. Morgan's 2018 Holiday Reading ListImagine your life without the internet. Without phones. Without television. Without sprawling cities. Without the freedom to continue working and playing after the sun goes down.Electricity is at the core of all modern life. It has transformed our society more than any other technology. Yet, no book offers a comprehensive history about this technological marvel.Until now.Simply Electrif...

Simply Electrifying: The Technology that Transformed the World, from Benjamin Franklin to Elon Musk brings to life the 250-year history of electricity through the stories of the men and women who used it to transform our world: Benjamin Franklin, James Watt, Michael Faraday, Samuel F.B. Morse, Thomas Edison, Samuel Insull, Albert Einstein, Rachel Carson, Elon Musk, and more. In the process, it reveals for the first time the complete, thrilling, and often-dangerous story of electri...

The inspiration for Nuclear Now, the new Oliver Stone film, co-written by Joshua GoldsteinAs climate change quickly approaches a series of turning points that guarantee disastrous outcomes, a solution is hiding in plain sight. Several countries have already replaced fossil fuels with low-carbon energy sources, and done so rapidly, in one to two decades. By following their methods, we could decarbonize the global economy by midcentury, replacing fossil fuel...

A TIMES BEST SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT BOOK OF THE YEARONE OF PROSPECT'S TOP THINKERS 2024**'AN IMPORTANT READ FOR ANYONE IN NEED OF OPTIMISM' BILL GATES'DAZZLING AND DEEPLY REPORTED' DAVID WALLACE-WELLS'HIGHLY READABLE . . . ENGAGING STORIES OF PEOPLE BEHIND SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ADVANCES IN RECENT DECADES' FINANCIAL TIMES**A green economy is not only possible, it's profitable.

The promise of "green jobs" and a "clean energy future" has roused the masses. But as Robert Bryce makes clear in this provocative book, that vision needs a major re-vision. We cannot -- and will not -- quit using carbon-based fuels at any time in the near future for a simple reason: they provide the horsepower that we crave. The hard reality is that oil, coal, and natural gas are here to stay.Fueling our society requires more than sentiment and rhetoric; we need to make good decis...

An “informative and highly readable” (Foreign Affairs) breakdown of the history of electricity and the impact of global energy use on the world and the environmentGlobal demand for power is doubling every two decades, but electricity remains one of the most difficult forms of energy to supply and do so reliably. Today, some three billion people live in places where per-capita electricity use is less than what's used by an average American refrigerator. How...

In the face of today's environmental and economic challenges, doomsayers preach that the only way to stave off disaster is for humans to reverse course: to de-industrialize, re-localize, ban the use of modern energy sources, and forswear prosperity. But in this provocative and optimistic rebuke to the catastrophists, Robert Bryce shows how innovation and the inexorable human desire to make things Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper is providing consumers with Cheaper and more ab...

A “smart, honest, and down-to-earth” (Elizabeth Kolbert) citizen’s guide to the seven urgent changes that will really make a difference for our climate.If you think the only thing you can do to combat climate change is to install a smart thermostat or cook plant-based meat, you’re thinking too small.In The Big Fix, energy policy advisor Hal Harvey and longtime New York Times reporter Justin Gillis offer a new, hopeful way to engag...

The United States is in the throes of two unfolding energy revolutions, and partisans--convinced that only their side holds the key to American prosperity, security, and safety--are battling over which one should prevail. In The Power Surge, Michael Levi takes readers inside these revolutions. He shows how oil and gas production, after decades in decline, are being propelled upward by new technologies and high prices, prompting enthusiasts to predict an economic renaissance and im...

Everything you thought you knew about nuclear power is wrong. This is just as well, because nuclear energy is essential to avoid catastrophic global warming.While renewables will surely play an important part in our future energy strategy, expecting them to deliver all the world's power is dangerously delusional. In 2014, statistics showed that wind and solar power contributed only 1 per cent of global primary energy. Similarly, while energy saving has a key role t...

*New update v2.0*- Easier reading, more analogies, more discussion- More comprehensive discussion on economic costs- New Chapter dedicated to Practical Renewables- More Nuclear myths debunkedEven with free solar cells and batteries, solar power is too expensive.If safe nuclear power is expensive, solar power is a disaster (and so is wind). Here I present an analysis with these key findings:- Solar utility scale power is too expensive eve...

“An important read for anyone in need of optimism about our ability to build a clean energy future.”—BILL GATES“Illuminating, incisive, and deeply reported.”—DAVID WALLACE-WELLS, New York Times-bestselling author of The Uninhabitable EarthOur age will be defined by the climate emergency. Contrary to the doomist narrative that's taken hold about the climate emergency, the world has already begun deploying t...