Energy books
Faramelli, Norman J.
Seeking a new energy logic ENERGY: THE NEXT TWENTY YEARS, AN OVERVIEW Ford Foundation Report Ballinger Publishing, $1.00, 77 pp. ENERGY IN AMERICA'S FUTURE: THE CHOICE BEFORE US Sam H....
...Nevertheless, a "balanced" proposal is set forth which sees improved energy efficiency and solar as the foundations...
...Norman J. Faramelli HAT MORE could be said about the Wenergy issue...
...Compared to the first Ford Foundation major study (A Time to Choose, 1974), this one places much more emphasis on the role of market forces...
...For example, one of the most useful exchanges is between Lovins and G. Pickering (University of Chicago ethicist) on the kind of societal visions and assumptions undergirding soft-path technologies...
...Judging from the publication rate of new books, there is still much to be said on a problem that deepens in scope and in its impact on peoples' lives...
...There are common threads in all books—alternative energy sources and energy conservation are mentioned by all, but the emphasis varies...
...PATHWAY TO ENERGY SUFFICIENCY John S. Steinhart, et al...
...Can the political/ economic institutions respond to the new challenges presented...
...We are already seeing those casualties with furnace oil zooming toward a dollar a gallon...
...Although both of these reports see the need for solar energy and energy conservation, neither report gives them priority Commonweal: 314 status, because the authors approach the problem primarily by increasing and shifting traditional supplies...
...We can either shape the future of energy use or our future will be shaped by ugly energy realities...
...they see the issue as too complex for one or two simple solutions...
...THE ENERGY CONTROVERSY Amory Lovins (and his critics) Friends of the Earth, $13.50, 450 pp...
...The authors do not spell out a priority of solutions...
...Pathway is a mixture of nostalgia for a more simple society and a testimony to the need for creative and innovative technologies...
...There are three observations I would make on these books: 1. As noted, the economist/ environmentalist spectrum is well covered...
...Unlike the reports from the Ford Foundation and Resources for the Future, it is easy to read and far less cautious in making recommendations...
...The Energy Controversy is a debate between Amory Lovins and his critics...
...Although the social/ political/economic fabric will most likely not allow for such radical changes (not even by 2050), the book is a fine intellectual stimulant to help us think some sorely needed unthinkable thoughts about improved energy efficiency or reducing energy demand...
...The soft path has three main components—increased energy efficiency, rapid development of alternative technologies, and transitional use of fossil fuels...
...Sponsored by the Ford Foundation and administered by Resources for the Future, the report stresses repeatedly that market forces or traditional economic solutions are needed to deal with our energy woes...
...2. Even if market forces do work effectively, they always leave a trail of social and economic casualties...
...Religious institutions, which are in the business of helping constituents perceive reality differently, should be able to play a creative role in bringing about the social transformation that is needed...
...Friends of the Earth, $4.95, 96 pp...
...23 May 1980: 315...
...As part of their solutions, the authors recommend: immediate decontrol of oil and gas prices, application of "marginal cost" pricing by utilities (so utilities could charge con-sumers for the full cost of new expensive facilities), temporary subsidies of conservation investments, government emphasis on small-scale technology, letting industry decide which new technologies should be commercialized, and developing new mechanisms for financing solar energy...
...None of the books gives the social equity issue the attention it deserves, and some of them do not seem to be aware that it is a problem at all...
...If that turns out to be true, market forces will not function smoothly, and cannot in fact be relied upon as all the books indicate...
...For instance, if you were to place these books on a spectrum which has one end labeled "hard-nosed, energy supply oriented economist" and the other end designated "environmentalist/solar oriented energy conserver," you would find that these books would cover most bands on the spectrum...
...Lovins is a technocrat par excellence, but his political and social assessments are not as compelling...
...That slower energy growth rate will not endanger economic growth...
...We need a new energy logic that reorients our psyches and life styles to the reality that energy is scarce, increasingly expensive and its use often causes social and environmental harm...
...In private conversation, one of Lovins's pet remarks is that "it does no good to put a solar collector on a heat sieve...
...Only when energy demand is drastically reduced does largescale application of alternate energy sources make any sense...
...can get by with 33 quads of energy in 2000, if energy conservation is taken very seriously...
...For instance, a solution to our energy problem requires: (a) some or all of the "big four" (oil, gas, coal, nuclear...
...An even more ambitious scenario for the future is found in Pathway to Energy sufficiency, which argues that the U.S...
...Unless a new energy logic is engrafted into our psyches, the deepening energy woes will generate more frustration, anger, anxieties and a need to find villains or scapegoats...
...Nevertheless, Lovins must be reckoned with in all energy debates, and this book provides a good introduction...
...The myth that shaped our psyches and life styles (and is, unfortunately, still alive and well) has convinced us that energy was abundant, inexpensive, and its use did not inflict serious social or environmental harm...
...Pickering rightly challenges the "small is beautiful"/ decentralization emphasis in the softpath approach and raises some valid skepticism about the prominence given to localism...
...3. The implicit message in all these books is that the energy issue needs to be reconceptualized...
...Near the "environmentalist" band, you would find the debate between Amory Lovins and his critics, and a vision of an energy-saving society in the twenty-first century...
...Midway on the spectrum, serving as a bridge between the worlds of the economist and the environmentalist, stands Energy Future, a project of the Harvard Business School...
...If we begin with the "big four" and add energy conservation and alternate energies as afterthoughts, we arrive at a radically different energy program than if we begin with energy conservation and alternate energy sources and then rely upon the "big four" during the transition period...
...c) alternative energy technologies (wind, solar, biomass, etc...
...The RFF report envisions a future in the year 2000 that requires 115 quads (quadrillion Btus) in the U.S.—a 1.8 percent per year growth rate...
...The question of monopolies, administered prices, and complexities of transnational firms are not addressed...
...ENERGY IN AMERICA'S FUTURE: THE CHOICE BEFORE US Sam H. Schurr, et al...
...The environmentalists follow the opposite approach...
...These five books provide a useful orientation to the current debate...
...They realize, for instance, that this nation will be heavily reliant upon oil and gas for some time, and hence, cannot accept the rate of change envisioned by "soft path" enthusiasts...
...Although there is much overlap, the points of emphasis vary substantially...
...That myth should be turned on its head...
...The Next Twenty Years: An Overview is the first chapter of a 628-report released in September...
...Yet in all of the books, there is an explicit or implicit faith in the market system as a means toward providing energy solutions...
...Energy Future is a well researched and documented work...
...b) energy conservation...
...Near the "economist" band of the spectrum stand the studies by Resources for the Future and the Ford Foundation...
...The social equity issue should be pivotal, not an aside, in any serious energy debate...
...That is, what is desirable from the standpoint of energy economics is frequently a disaster from the standpoint of social equity...
...The issue is not whether one gives lip service to all three, but what order of priority they are given...
...The book has merit even if the editor's efforts to put the congressional hearings into a dialogue format were less than successful...
...The authors are clear, however, that the key problems in our energy future are not technical or economic, but political and institutional...
...The energy economists focus on the "big four," and concentrate largely on increasing supply and not reducing demand...
...He maintains that in 2000, the U.S...
...Johns Hopkins Press, $10.95, 555 pp...
...The authors skillfully link the differing views of the energy economists and the environmentalists...
...Although the report is difficult to wade through, it can serve as a useful reference...
...Barry Commoner (Poverty of Power and Politics of Energy) and others have serious doubts as to whether the economic institutions can adjust to a new energy situation...
...The book, which is a distillation of two volumes of congressional hearings, provides a valuable guide to "soft/hard energy path" discussions...
...The 555-page study from Resources for the Future (Energy in America's Future) is an excellent compendium of where we are in energy consumption, energy supply, health, safety and environmental impacts, and the societal process in making energy choices (such as the problems and uncertainties in designing energy policy...
...ENERGY FUTURE Robert Stobaugh & Daniel Yergin Random House, $12.95, 353 pp...
...At the heart of Lovins's soft-path technology is energy conservation, or increased energy efficiency...
...In this report, rising energy prices always seem to result in societal benefits...
...The entire book is a description of what needs to happen in society to bring that about...
...For instance, the authors leave little doubt that "nuclear power offers no solution to the problem of America's growing dependence on imported oil for the rest of this century" and that the two real keys toward oil imports and building a sound economy are energy conservation (improved efficiency) and solar energy...
...The former can be an exciting opportunity (albeit not without pain), but the latter will be simply dismal...
...could get by on 75 quads of energy...
Vol. 107 • May 1980 • No. 10
