The Power Surge
Energy, Opportunity, and the Battle for America's Future
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
The United States is in the throes of two unfolding energy revolutions, and partisans--convinced that only their side holds the key to American prosperity, security, and safety--are battling over which one should prevail. In The Power Surge, Michael Levi takes readers inside these revolutions. He shows how oil and gas production, after decades in decline, are being propelled upward by new technologies and high prices, prompting enthusiasts to predict an economic renaissance and impending energy independence. On the other side of the fight, he visits eco-startups and manufacturers betting on a new energy future, revealing how more efficient cars and trucks are increasingly dominating the road and costs for renewable energy have plummeted, leading many to herald a starkly different future that moves beyond fossil fuels and saves the planet.
Armed with on-the-ground lessons, and drawing on insights from economics, politics, international relations, and climate science, The Power Surge takes on the big claims made by both sides in the fight over American energy, explaining why the purists are often wrong. Both unfolding revolutions in American energy offer big opportunities for the country to strengthen its economy, bolster its security, and protect the environment. Levi shows how to seize those with a new strategy that blends the best of old and new energy while avoiding the real dangers that each poses.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Levi (On Nuclear Terrorism), a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, surveys the changing landscape of U.S. energy production. Well-worn political battles in the energy wars over policies to boost supply or curb demand of oil and gas, he thinks, no longer make sense. Based on site visits and packed with perspective, Levi ably covers fracking, climate change, fuel-efficient electric cars, and clean energy. He reviews the promise of plentiful natural gas and the potential of what he says are now expensive alternative energies. Observing reduced public fear of nuclear energy and "rising concerns about climate change," Levi avoids partisanship and "greenthink" utopianism, relying on facts and data to make his case. He outlines current "energy revolutions" that could free the nation from oil dependence, reviewing substantial changes in geopolitics since the traumatic oil shortages of the 1970s. He is generally optimistic about the coming decades, while admitting the imprecision of forecasts and "wildcards facing the future of U.S. energy peak oil, major war, deglobalization, a stalled economic recovery, and surprisingly high climate sensitivity." Readers seeking to understand America's energy policies and prospects will welcome this even-handed, smart, and accessible book on a topic of incomparable economic importance.
