Praise for Crossing the Energy Divide

“This book makes coherent and rigorous arguments that increasing energy efficiency is the primary driver of economic growth today and is key to managing climate change.”

Kandeh Yumkella, Director-General, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

“It’s exciting to see some of the riddles of economic history solved. Energy efficiency may become the master key to future wealth!”

Ernst von Weizsacker, Dean, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management (ret), University of California, Santa Barbara

“This important new book compels a significantly greater attention to the critical role of energy productivity in maintaining a robust economy.”

John A. “Skip” Laitner, Director, Economic and Social Analysis, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE)

“Even if renewable energy sources can eventually sustain present living standards in industrialized countries, it will require decades for them to grow into that role. This book is by far the most realistic and helpful proposal I have seen for what can be done to cross the enormous energy gap between what we have and what we want.”

Dennis Meadows, Coauthor, Limits to Growth

“This book is ‘mythbusters’ applied to the conventional wisdom that reducing greenhouse gas emissions will also reduce income. It should switch the debate from what it will cost to mitigate climate change to a search for policy changes to spur profitable efficiency investments in generation and use of energy services.”

Thomas R. Casten, Chair, Recycled Energy Development, LLC

“Crossing the Energy Divide has appeared right when those of us in the energy sector need it most. Robert and Edward Ayres do an excellent job of explaining that every product and service has an energy component, and the cost of that component will determine our future quality of life.”

John K. Cool, P.E., C.P.E, President, PowerPlus Engineering, Inc.

The Environmentally and Economically Smart Strategy for Solving the Global Energy Crisis--Starting Now

If we continue our highly inefficient, dangerous energy usage, we’re headed for both economic and environmental catastrophe. However, the hard truth is that alternative fuels can’t fully replace fossil fuels for decades. What’s more, new research indicates that energy inefficiencies are retarding economic growth even more than most experts ever realized.

Crossing the Energy Divide is about solving all these problems at once. The authors, two leading experts in energy and environmental economics, show how massive improvements in energy efficiency can bridge the global economy until clean renewables can fully replace fossil fuels.

Robert and Edward Ayres demonstrate how we can radically reform the way we manage our existing energy systems to double the amount of “energy service” we get from every drop of fossil fuel we use.

These techniques require no scientific breakthroughs: Many companies and institutions are applying them right now, but tens of thousands more could. This book offers a strategic guide for using them to solve the energy crisis once and for all—reducing carbon emissions, achieving true energy security, and reigniting economic growth for decades to come.

More energy, without more emissions

Recapturing lost energy from today’s fossil fuels

There is such a thing as a free lunch

Mitigating climate disaster and improving prosperity at the same time

The future of electricity

Reforming tomorrow’s electrical system: smarter, more productive, and more reliable

The implications for cities, transportation, business, and government

Making the decisions that prepare you for a high-cost energy future

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 26 Ratings

A good primer on alternative energy - 2010-07-10
Reviewer Rating:
A good overview of the impediments to moving from a fossil-fuel based economy to a more sustainable energy model.

However, I am a bit concerned about the focus on alternative energy generation as opposed to limiting energy consumption. Creating alternative, clean energy sources should not be squandered on unnecessary consumption; we must break the vicious cycle of almost simultaneously consuming any new energy source that we create. I would have liked to have seen some attention to conservation measures.

Recommended.

Please read this book - 2010-06-01
Reviewer Rating:
Robert U. Ayres and Edward H. Ayres have written a insightful book that clearly defines realistic steps to achieve independence from fossil fuels in a couple of decades. In light of the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, it's almost like the author's had premonition. The facts they present are shocking. For example, 6 out of 7 barrels of oil is wasted -- roughly 85% is lost. Incandescent light bulbs are only 5% efficient and compact fluorescent lights are only 15% efficient.. In essence, oil to a light is only 2.25% efficient or 97.75% inefficient. Solar and wind power contribute less than 1% of the power in the USA and this clearly has to be built up in the years to come.

There are very compelling reasons to recycle energy. Two steel mills in Illinois are recycling energy in amounts sufficient to power their entire plants. In fact, these two steel mills produce a surplus of energy but they can't sell it because the power companies won't let them. If they put their excess energy on the grid, the power company gives them pennies on the dollar. There are thousands of factories that could recycle energy which is free and doesn't produce any additional carbon dioxide. Companies like DuPont have saved hundreds of millions of dollars through energy conservation and recycling. The typical ROI is only a couple of years and then it's almost pure savings.

The concept of decentralized power generation makes a lot of sense. In some European countries, rooftop power plants that power several houses account for up to 85% of their electricity. The conventional central power plant monopoly is antiquated lacking any significant change over the last 50 years. Over 20% of the energy generated is lost in the transmission over long distances. The authors abhor the idea of offshore drilling and nuclear power (like the 400 nuclear plants Chaney wanted to build).

This book presents a logical approach to reducing our dependence on fossil fuel using existing technologies. In other words, the plan doesn't require the invention of cold fusion. The plan requires radical restructuring of the way energy is created and recycled. Every politician and business owner should be required to read this book. In fact, I think everybody should read this book. We would have plenty of oil if we didn't waste 85% of it.

Read It and Share it with Policymakers - 2010-05-08
Reviewer Rating:
Title Crossing the Energy Divide: Moving from Fossil Fuel Dependence to a Clean-Energy Future
Author
Ayres, Edward H.
Robert U. Ayres
Rating *****
Tags non-fiction, energy, global warming, city planning, water, public policy, energy economics


This is perhaps one of the most important books published in this decade, and it is a book that addresses and offers solutions at this critical time of global warming and dwindling supplies of energy. The senior author, Robert Ayers, is a physicist and economist. The book explains some of the background of energy economics, and why so many economic models are inadequate because they don't address energy production and use.

The book explains the difference between energy produced and energy services - the work the energy does. The authors show that much energy produced now is wasted, and that much of what is currently wasted can be captured and used, and that this can reduce carbon dioxide output while costing the energy consumer little, because the return on investment is so high. Moreover, it is being done now, mostly in other countries, though it is being done in a few plants in the U.S. So investments now in increased energy service efficiency can be the necessary bridge to meet our energy needs until it is possible for renewable energy sources to do so. Renewables will not be able to meet the needs for several decades.

The authors also discuss other critical issues such as urban planning, transportation, water use, and more. For all the issues, they clearly lay out the issues, the needed solutions, the policy and business management changes needed to reach the solutions.

The biggest problem will be that the solutions require policy changes that end the monopolies currently enjoyed by the electric utility companies, who are major political donors.

Read this book. Give copies to your Congressman, your Senator, and any CEOs you happen to know. I plan to suggest the Daily Show have the authors on, and that the Secretary of Energy read it. THIS BOOK NEEDS TO BE PUBLICIZED.


Author - Ayres, Edward H.
Publication Wharton School Publishing (2009), Edition: 1, Hardcover, 256 pages
Publication date 2009
ISBN 0137015445 / 9780137015443

It is possible to delay the inevitable. - 2010-05-02
Reviewer Rating:
There are myriad ways to scrimp and save energy as we transition to a sustainable energy future. This has been brought into the limelight after the BP disaster in the gulf of Mexico last week. It is absolutely necessary that we, as Americans, do so. While we make the transition from fossil fuels to sustainable power sources, we can do the best with what we already have to achieve energy independence, sustainability, and freedom from the need to extract fossil fuels. Crossing the Energy Divide reveals a great number of ways of capturing waste heat, recycling energy we would "throw away", and otherwise maximize efficiency in the use of what is already in our nation. The plain truth is, if we made the best of what we are already using, we would not need to import petroleum. We are a wasteful society and need to clean up our act. As we move to a fully sustainable future, in the meanwhile, we can achieve energy independence by tweaking our own system. Crossing the Energy divide gives straightforward advice on how to do it. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the future of America and our planet.

Crossing the Great Divide - 2010-04-27
Reviewer Rating:
In recent years (basically since I started watching CSPAN debates of Congress and the Senate) I have had a renewed interest in the future of economics and energy usage in this country. I have devoted considerable time in an attempt to understand the fundamentals of the U.S. Economy and Financial Sector, Climate Change, ect. But Alternative Energy has been somewhat elusive. I tried to read a book about solar power generation recently, but it was a bit like reading a book on mechanical engineering to try to understand the future of automobiles (near indecipherable, even for me). Then I came across Al Gore's brilliant book "Our Choice" which outlines the steps needed to save the world from climate change (which is not only an entertaining read, but written at a level that any 12-year-old can understand and full of great full color illustrations). But while Gore's book outlines the building of the future, what it neglects is a real solid practical solution of how to get from here to there. That's where this book comes in.

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!

I have read a lot of books on physics, economics and the like, but up till now I have never read one I really thought was brilliant. This book is everything I want in such a book. Concise, entertaining, well researched, to the point, backed up in solid data, and short. At a breezy 200 pages (give or take) it manages to perfectly outline the world situation and the practical steps needed to get us from Energy Crisis A to Sustainable World B. The language is witty and easy to understand, while at the same time highly intelligent. Overall I found the book a joy to read, and will keep it in my collection for reference partly as a supreme example of how to write superbly readable scientific non-fiction for general reading.

The Heart of the Matter

What I found really astounding though, is how the heart of the book, its soul if you will, is actually something that fascinated me when I was about 11 years old... Energy efficiency. While it's not exactly a hot buzzword with the media, the solution to all of our short-term energy problems is to use the energy that we have far more effectively. I remember being obsessed with energy efficiency as a child, trying to get my parents to look into getting the house's electrical system upgraded, the windows and lighting replaced, ect. My parents view back then seems disconcertingly similar to that of the Big Shots pulling the strings of most corporations when someone tries to improve efficiency (a pat on the head and comment of "That's nice. Now run along and go back to doing what you were doing. I'll make any changes that are needed." And then they do absolutely NOTHING.)

As the world population increases, traditional ways of warming houses, producing food, getting around, ect are simply going to have to change. Why? Because there isn't enough food to feed the world the way we have been doing it. There isn't enough water. And there certainly isn't enough energy (especially when India and China start ramping up their needs). The solution is to completely redesign the infrastructure of EVERYTHING from the ground up to reflect the needs of the many rather than the wants of the few. We are approaching a point where automobiles used to carry one person from place to place will be impossibly impractical because of gross inefficiency and unimaginable traffic congestion (to say nothing of potentially fatal pollution levels as smog levels increase from population rise). Similarly if water is squandered at the rate it has been, there will be no food to eat (unless you fancy paying for it like you're buying gold bars). Things HAVE to change.

The interesting thing about efficiency, is that whether you want it or not, to a large degree improvements happen on their own simply because moth and rust (time) consumes all. Engines don't last forever, and neither do computers, windows, lights, ect. Just replacing things as they wear out has over time yielded HUGE increases in efficiency. But because of the dwindling fossil fuel supply (fossil fuel is a misnomer but that's another conversation), energy efficiency increases are going to have to happen in far greater amount whether people want them or not, or it's going to cost you $20.00 to get to work 5 miles away. The interesting thing is the actual reality of just how much room there is for improvement in this regard.

A great myth long perpetuated is that profits from energy efficiency increases are small at best and negligible at worst. In actuality, the numbers show that for corporations and many, even individuals, the return on energy efficient increases is better than that of stock or mutual fund investments with none of the risk. Concrete examples are given of how these increases in efficiency can save companies not thousands, but MILLIONS of dollars, while at the same time hugely helping the environment. So much for business and conservation being opposed to each other.

While I am sure there will always be people who object to change (because change is different and different scares the heck out of everyone), it is also inevitable. When automobiles were introduced there doubtless many who disliked them. Now there will certainly be those who resist the phasing out of individual transportation in favor of high-speed and high-efficient mass transit. Many people cherish their water and energy wasting devices (and archaic ways of doing business) and refuse to give them up. But as this book shows repeatedly, the best course of action now is to start implementing the future before it reaches a critical level (moving buildings away from rivers and tides and implementing new infrastructure before energy becomes so expensive that it can no longer be put off).

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read about the future of energy and energy efficiency. I have barely even scratched the surface of what this book covers (the future of Combined Heat and Power, housing that is energy neutral, the breaking of the power company monopolies to save the energy industry from itself). This book is going on my shelf permanently as an exemplary reference work that is entertaining, comprehensive, profound, and compelling.

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