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2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Mandatory Reading For Politicians Oct 14, 2009
The Geopolitics of Energy is a book that terrifies me. It manages to do so without polar bears and without floods of biblical proportion, etc. This book accurately explains how energy use is related to quality of life. With only 1 billion of the earth's inhabitance within what I consider the quality zone, another 5 billion people will need to be brought up to this standard. This will require a tremendous amount of energy, from where will this energy supply come?
The book recommends that the energy be supplied using a mix of 1/3 fossil fuel, 1/3 renewables, and 1/3 nuclear. Under the projected usage after behavior modification, the authors suggest that even the best scenario has fossil fuels depleted within 100 years. Now that is scary. This best case scenario assumes that we can achieve the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 ratio by 2040, which is just one generation away. I don't know if the authors proposed ratio is achievable in 30 years. I hope that it is, solar and wind energy will need to grow from 0 to 33%, nuclear would need to grow from 17% to 34%. I am afraid that this is not possible without significant changes in the political climate in the United States. Local zoning boards are preventing wind turbine installations ([...]). No new nuclear plants have been built in the U. S. since work on the River Bend plant began in 1977, one generation ago.
This book goes a long way toward giving lay readers an understanding of the current energy situation. I believe that it should be mandatory reading for anyone elected to public office in the U. S. (and probably the rest of the world). It should also be required reading for all 6th-8th grade students. Unfortunately, they are probably going to be the ones dealing with this mess when 2040 finally rolls around as I expect that my generation will continue to ignore the problem of finding a stable energy supply.
One of the other reviews suggested that this book was improperly cited. The references used to formulate the book are listed in a bibliography. For the target audience of decision makers and general members of the public, I believe that this is sufficient. In fact, in line citations may have made the book difficult for the target audience to read. While I myself would have liked to have seen standard scientific referencing, many of the people that I have passed the book onto have not. I have looked into the references in the bibliography and found that these documents do back up the numbers in the book.
For a book of this type, it is remarkably error free. The only major error is in the table on page 49 in the fossil fuels section. The numbers in the table should read:
157 years 79 years 109 years
40 years 20 years 80 years
57 years 29 years 143 years
instead of the multiple hundreds of years listed.
The book also does a great job of trying to correct the mistaken risks that people believe to be associated with nuclear power. Comparing the number of deaths attributed to coal usage over a 5 year period (30000) to the number of deaths attributed to nuclear power (0) is a stark reminder of how it is possible incorrectly assign risks compared to common behavior, say driving to work (250000 deaths over the same time period).
In general, the authors have covered a tremendous amount of material, political, scientific, and cultural, in a manner that is understandable and very readable. I just hope that those with the power to act listen to their recommendations. Otherwise, the authors may end up having written the best horror book of all time as I would hate to speculate on what the consequences of the U. S. Human Development Index dropping to 0.5 would be.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Summary of our current energy situation and a perscription for the future Sep 29, 2009
I thought the book did an amazing job of taking a very technical, complex and multi-faceted problem and breaking it down into a logical sequence with explanations that had enough science beind them to make very powerful arguments but expressed in such a way as to be understandable to the layman. I think this is an extremely important and timely piece of work and should be a "must read" for all.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
A crystal-clear energy primer Aug 09, 2009
Every informed person who knows something about the drawbacks of how the world obtains the energy that modern life depends on needs to read Wright and Conca's GeoPolitics of Energy. The great majority of today's energy comes from fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. These fuels all produce carbon dioxide when they burn, and this carbon dioxide is at the root of the global warming problem. Additionally, mining coal and transporting oil can obviously lead to environmental disasters, from mountaintop removal to tanker accidents. Furthermore, the concentration of oil and gas reserves in just a few countries is the raw material of many geopolitical nightmares. This is only the beginning of such a list of problems, not the end, and the problems become still more serious as a growing world population strives for a decent standard of living.
Although it is easier to state the problems than to recommend solutions, scientists Wright and Conca do not hesitate to make specific suggestions and concrete choices based on their broad knowledge of the entire spectrum of energy issues, combined with specialized expertise and experience in environmental protection and alternative energy sources such as nuclear. Wright and Conca's book is a short and easily understood planetary owner's manual demonstrating that the nearly seven billion occupants of the Earth, and their descendants, can meet their energy needs without devastating their planet or going bankrupt. The authors consider the pros and cons of the various possible energy sources such as fossil fuels; renewables including biomass, hydroelectric, solar and wind; and geothermal and nuclear fuel. They survey energy use around the world and the economics of the various energy alternatives. They recommend an energy mix featuring renewables, fossil fuel, and nuclear in roughly equal amounts, necessitating more renewables and nuclear than anyone is dreaming of.
Because of the general misunderstanding of nuclear energy, and its incorrect confusion with weapons, nuclear energy gets a discussion rarely provided in other texts. The four downsides of the nuclear option are widely thought to be cost, proliferation, reactor safety and waste disposal. Wright and Conca show that none of these problems is insurmountable, given an informed and rational strategy. Even nuclear waste is provided a safe and alternative solution. France is an example of a developed western democracy that in only three decades successfully transformed its electricity supply from completely fossil fuel to over 80% nuclear, giving it the best air quality in Europe, removing its dependence on fossil fuels and reducing its toxic waste load per capita to the lowest of any industrialized nation.
Wright and Conca also outline the necessary requirements for moving from today's haphazard and sub-optimal energy mix toward a sustainable energy future. Wide public and governmental awareness and education are essential, as is a carbon tax. A truly global view requires focusing on the needs of the developing world, where population growth is concentrated and energy needs are rapidly increasing. Procrastination is a guarantee of failure. The time to start is now, and a very good way to start is by reading this authoritative and crystal-clear energy primer.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
A welcome addition to the energy debate in this country.... Aug 05, 2009
I teach a undergraduate course on Climate Change and Society at the University of California, San Diego and I use Wright and Conca's book, The GeoPolitics of Energy, as required reading for the course. I require this book because informed discussion on the political and technical solutions needed to lead us to energy independence and environmental sustainability in the next 30 years is a very important topic and there are few other sources that cover it as completely or as rationally as Wright and Conca.
The course I teach focuses on three general topics (1) the science and symptoms of climate change (2) technological, economic and political solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and (3) the skills to weigh the pros and cons of various solutions and to effectively relate information on climate change and solutions to a general public audience. I rely heavily on The GeoPolitics of Energy in the course as it provides very accurate discussion on socioeconomic, political and technical solutions to our current energy situation. This is a discussion that is largely lacking in other books on climate change. In fact, this deficiency largely reflects the feeble nature of the energy debate in this country. The book is accessible for all audiences and rich in data and illustrations. Moreover, the authors approach the topic from a perspective of global equity which transcends the US to also includethe emerging energy needs of developing nations and growing populations. The authors recognize that countries other than the US will have the greatest effect on energy consumption over the next 30 years. Their proposed solutions include the role of the US in global leadership, technological development and economic incentives.
In class I emphasize that numbers matter. Offering real solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emission and shift international energy production requires looking at data and accessing real qualities. This book does that well. The global solutions offered in the book, particularly the case for the role of nuclear energy, are well substantiated by data and research.
Finally, I use this book in my class because I strongly feel this country needs to raise an more energy-literate citizenry which includes informed discussions on the role of nuclear energy in meeting our energy needs. Most of the students in my class are between 18 and 21 years old. They are exactly the generation that need to have the knowledge to make choices to lead us to energy independence and environmental sustainability in the next 30 years.
Kudos to the authors for opening up this important topic with this monumental personal effort. It's my hope that the authors will continue their mission with a 2nd edition to offer factual updates and some more careful referencing. The book is also worthy of more professional publication - including a more efficient lay-out, and better image quality.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 great overview of energy, economics, and politics Aug 05, 2009
I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the world's energy future. This book compares energy sources and the inter-relationships between energy, economics, and politics. The graphics added to my understanding of complex topics. A must read for concerned citizens who want to be informed on these issues.
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