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We don't have an energy crisis. We have a consumption crisis. And this book, which takes aim at cherished assumptions regarding energy, offers refreshingly straight talk about what's wrong with the way we think and talk about the problem. Though we generally believe we can solve environmental problems with more energy--more solar cells, wind turbines, and biofuels--alternative technologies come with their own side effects and limitations. How, for instance, do solar cells cause harm? Why can't engineers solve wind power's biggest obstacle? Why won't contraception solve the problem of overpopulation lying at the heart of our concerns about energy, and what will?
This practical, environmentally informed, and lucid book persuasively argues for a change of perspective. If consumption is the problem, as Ozzie Zehner suggests, then we need to shift our focus from suspect alternative energies to improving social and political fundamentals: walkable communities, improved consumption, enlightened governance, and, most notably, women's rights. The dozens of first steps he offers are surprisingly straightforward. For instance, he introduces a simple sticker that promises a greater impact than all of the nation's solar cells. He uncovers why carbon taxes won't solve our energy challenges (and presents two taxes that could). Finally, he explores how future environmentalists will focus on similarly fresh alternatives that are affordable, clean, and can actually improve our well-being.
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CHOICE Review

All Americans should read this book. According to Zehner (visiting scholar, Univ. of California, Berkeley), the country has a consumption problem underlying its suboptimal social conditions and reckless growth economy mentality. People cannot expect technology to solve energy and pollution problems. First, the author explains why solar cells and ethanol and battery-powered vehicles are ecological disaster machines, and why alternative energy technologies do not clean the air and water, protect wildlife, lower atmospheric carbon dioxide, or replace older power plants. He discusses why real progress toward a happier lifestyle comes with less consumption and a focus on various issues, including women's rights, walkable neighborhoods, smarter building codes, preventive health care, economic reform, and a wiser consumer culture. Because buildings, not vehicles, contribute up to 80 percent of unwanted emissions in urban areas, change is needed. Perhaps the US should copy changes made by the Dutch, who enjoy longer life-spans, less poverty, less air pollution, cleaner drinking water, and a higher standard of living, all with a fraction of the energy per capita that Americans require. Americans have plenty of energy, but most is wasted. Numerous notes, references, and revealing charts support the arguments. Complete index. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. F. Potter formerly, University of California, Irvine

Booklist Review

Enthusiastic supporters of green energy technologies like wind and solar often peddle them as pristine substitutes for fossil fuels and ideal solutions to stem global warming. For environmental and philanthropic consultant Zehner, however, almost all alternative power schemes have serious downsides, and their advocates in industry and politics need to face some unsettling facts before investing further time and money. In the first section of this sobering analysis, Zehner addresses those shortcomings head on, convincingly critiquing in successive chapters solar energy (panel manufacturing produces a surprising amount of waste), wind power (turbines are unsightly and loud), biofuels (ethanol production leaves a large carbon footprint), and clean coal (not much really clean about it). Fortunately, Zehner doesn't stop there and instead advises that humanity needs to bring energy consumption down and not keep pace with it, and he offers some different but achievable proposals about conservation, including designing walkable communities and, surprisingly, championing women's rights. What set Zehner's work apart from the glut of other environment-related titles are his fresh ideas and superlatively engaging prose.--Hays, Carl Copyright 2010 Booklist

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Ozzie Zehner, who has collaborated on numerous projects in industry, government, and academia, is a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley.