Power to the People: How the Coming Energy Revolution Will Transform Our Lives, Turn the Energy Business Upside down, and Perhaps Even Save Our Planet [Hardcover]

Energy is one of those subjects that you don't think about until you have to.
Until that lousy day last summer.

As a technology guy, I've always been somewhat intrigued with the idea of networks (like Distributed / grid computing). So I was intrigued when I heard the author this summer speak about his "energy grid" (which he calls it the Energy Internet). Granted his terminology seemed a little....1990s, but his point made sense: if we were all sharing off the same energy grid, the market would reward those who used less energy and extract from those who use more. And like the internet, the "energy internet" can reroute itself around a problem. (Take that, Ohio!)

What I loved most about this book is that it's not aimed at granola crunchy people. It's also not aimed at the NPR / anti-SUV crowd. I think It's written for the "armchair skeptic" like myself. I'm not stupid enough to think that BP wants to save the world. But I think those ads are meant to influence how we think about energy providers.

We all know that many of the real energy costs aren't being addressed in today's pump prices-- the environment, Enron, Iraq, etc. But the author explains that it's because the real market price ISN'T being represented that we're in such a sorry state. Well, lots of right-wing books contain the "market will solve all of our problems" premise and I would have expected as much from someone who writes for the Economist. But this book doesn't always give the answers that you'd expect. In fact, it was pretty harsh on a few companies who would have probably liked to use him as a poster boy.

Granted, his book title makes it seem like Energy will solve many of the world's problems-- that's just the title. But i'm pretty impressed how well he supported his "save the planet" / environmental stance-- it seemed a bit far-fetched at first. But what he's really talking about is pollution credits and developed / developing world stuff. With India and China's rapid economic growth, the environment took a big hit and it affects all of us.

If I have a small complaint about the book, it's that the author sometimes seems a little too "rah rah" about the "new revolution". (the book title alone makes me cringe a bit). I don't disagree that cheap and efficient hydrogen energy may change the world, I just think that real revolutions are fairly incremental intially and we only realize how incredible they are after we start to reap the benefits. Proclaiming the energy "revolution" and talking about the "energy internet" may have gotten people excited in the New Economy, but we're in the Old New Economy now.

I give this book 5 stars because I'm not the kind of person who would read books on energy and I actually enjoyed it.

For an overview of up-and-coming sources of energy for the new millennium you can't do much better than this book, but beware of its very optimistic and not always realistic examinations of the politics and economics of energy. As a policy expert, Vaitheeswaran certainly has keen insights into what is going on in energy today, from actual vs. perceived shortages in fossil fuels to the latest cutting-edge research into new technologies such as fuel cells. Here you will get great insights into how the current market works, with some in-depth debunking of popular assumptions concerning issues like the California crisis in 2000-01, or the true political machinations and motivations of OPEC. Vaitheeswaran ably documents how humans will continue to have access to reliable energy, in whatever form, and that world society is hardly on the brink of a major catastrophic shortage.

However, this book loses steam significantly when Vaitheeswaran starts to analyze the possible political and economic tools that will be necessary to keep the future energy market healthy. Basically, he is dangerously close to the dogma of the free market and free trade as the cure for all ills. Yes, as Americans we know that intelligently managed markets are essential. However, after fruitfully explaining how current energy markets are distorted by cronyism, tax breaks, subsidies, corporate welfare, and other inequitable political shenanigans, the possibility of such distortions is strangely missing from Vaitheeswaran's analyses of future trends. It's as if the free market, once allowed to roll, would suddenly create a perfect world devoid of human corruption, and not just in market-savvy America. This is the unrealistic message overall - a corrupt present shall be replaced by an unrealistic free market utopia around the world. And generally, in attempting to cover all sides of these issues from the point of view of everyone from radical environmentalists to fossil fuel plutocrats, Vaitheeswaran ultimately fails to land squarely in any camp, which saps the power from many of his conclusions. While much of this book is quite useful in describing exciting new technologies, sunny optimism often blinds the reader from dirtier realities. [~doomsdayer520~]

Vaitheeswaran writes for the Economist. The good news is that his journalistic account of the energy problem is breezy and easy to read. The bad news is that it is not so much an objective overview of the topic as it is a religious tract from the Church of the Free Market. Vaitheeswaran really pulls you into his optimistic account at times, but regularly slips in sarcastic digs at environmentalists and ecologists that remind you of his ideological bias. What really caused me to question his analysis, though, was his total dismissal of the oil geologists. I personally put much more stock in the projections of the geologists, following Hubbert, than I do in the economists, who always bring to mind Richard Feynman's skeptical view that economics & other social sciences are all voodoo.

I give this book a favorable review regardless, because it is a good introduction to a particular point of view. Without being a market dogmatist, I think Vaitheeswaran has sound points to make about the failure of energy deregulation in California, for instance. He reveals that Britain and Scandinavia (of all places!) have pursued energy deregulation with great success, and argues that it was not deregulation per se that failed, but rather a botched attempt. The first four chapters address "market forces." Vaitheeswaran makes the case that global warming is real and calls for a shift away from carbon-based fossil fuels in the second three chapters. Here, he takes a strong position in favor of carbon taxes, which will not endear him to the anti-tax Republicans, and reveals that his view, while pro-market, is more sensible than most acceptable debate in the U.S. (I do wonder, though, whether he and his editors have read much by Herman Daly and the other ecological economists, who include basic physics in their equations?)

When it comes to the last four chapters on energy technology, Vaitheeswaran has some very interesting things to say, based on his access to the corporate boardrooms. I am encouraged by the shift of Shell and BP (British Petroleum) toward renewable energy research, and no doubt the U.S. oil companies will reluctantly follow suit. The possibility of a decentralized power system, with inputs from local fuel cells, is quite astounding, and it carries some weight coming from the Economist.

I am by no means convinced that the "magic of the market" will bring the world a happy ending to the problem of the finite reserves of oil and natural gas, which are approaching their global Hubbert's Peak. But if markets and far-sighted corporations can be part of the solution, that's great. If we could bring the European view of markets, incorporating carbon taxes, or green taxes, to the U.S. that would be a big step in the right direction!

See my list THE CLEAN/RENEWABLE ENERGY REVOLUTION for more on the topics of oil and energy.