Energy Autonomy: The Economic, Social and Technological Case for Renewable Energy

Description

For 200 years industrial civilization has relied on the combustion of abundant and cheap carbon fuels. But continued reliance has had perilous consequences. On the one hand there is the insecurity of relying on the world's most unstable region - the Middle East - compounded by the imminence of peak oil, growing scarcity and mounting prices. On the other, the potentially cataclysmic consequences of continuing to burn fossil fuels, as the evidence of accelerating climate change shows. Yet there is a solution: to make the transition to renewable sources of energy and distributed, decentralized energy generation. It is a model that has been proven, technologically, commercially and politically, as Scheer comprehensively demonstrates here. The alternative of a return to nuclear power - again being widely advocated - he shows to be compromised and illusory. The advantages of renewable energy are so clear and so overwhelming that resistance to them needs diagnosis - which Scheer also provides, showing why and how entrenched interests and one-dimensional structures of thinking oppose the transition, and what must be done to overcome these obstacles. The new book from the award-winning author of THE SOLAR ECONOMY and A SOLAR MANIFESTO demonstrates why the transition to renewable energy is essential and how it can be done.

DR HERMANN SCHEER is a member of the German Bundestag (Parliament) and President of EUROSOLAR, the European Association for Renewable Energy. He is also General Chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy. In a career devoted to the replacement of nuclear and fossil fuels with environmentally sound energy sources, Dr Scheer has received numerous awards, including the World Solar Prize, the World Prize for BioEnergy, the World Wind Energy Award and the Alternative Nobel Prize. In 2002 Time Magazine recognized him as one of five 'Heroes for the Green Century'.

'The most important political book of the year.' Die Zeit 'Hermann Scheer - principal architect of the policies that converted cloudy Germany into the world's leading market for solar energy - demonstrates that the German model can and must be replicated in every nation that aspires toward a healthy, peaceful future.' Deins Hayes, Former Director of the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory 'This book is a powerful indictment of how we meet our energy needs. In urging an acceleration of the transition to renewable energy, Scheer exposes the fallacies surrounding the current paradigm and looks beyond the purely environmental benefits to outline the path to energy security.' Lester Brown, President of the Earth Policy Institute 'Hermann Scheer has taken aim against a number of our planet's Goliaths all at once. The world needs pioneers like him.' Ernst Ulrich Von Weisacker, Dean of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara 'This book is strongly recommended for anyone interested in climate change and sustainability.' SPA Newsletter This is one of the most readable accounts of the alternative energy generation field that has been produced recently. It is clear in its analysis and certain in its direction... deserves the widest readership. Bigpond '...definitely one of the best [books] yet written about renewable energy policy.' Photon International 'Comprehensively demonstrates why the transition to renewable energy is essential and how it can be done' SirReadaLot.org 'Sheer passionately addresses the book to the growing number of renewable energy advocates, and to the even greater number of those who are simply curious about it.' SirReadaLot.org