Blackout

This is the latest of a number of books by Richard Heinberg on aspects of the energy crisis. He concentrates on coal, which fuels more than 30% of UK electricity production and 50% in the US. Recently, many people have been turning to coal as a possible solution to our energy problems. Indeed, the growth of China and India has been largely fuelled by it. Heinberg focuses on three issues: potential scarcity, cost and quality (including transport costs), and climate effects. This brings into play the relationship between the environment and the economy, between pollution and growth. The book is a thorough examination of the use of coal around the world, and addresses the role of new coal technologies. He finishes by looking at three potential scenarios, the maximum burn rate (this is the default), the clean solution involving storage of carbon emissions, and a post-carbon transition leading to widespread adoption of renewable energies. His take-home message is that we need not have further energy price fluctuations once we rely on resources that are continually replenished and have adopted a no-growth economic paradigm. This last option does not look likely in the short-term so it is more probable that we will go down one of the first two routes.