This book provides a comprehensive and balanced account of global energy policy; covering moral, political, social, technical and economic aspects of the subject. While The Energy Conundrum does not offer easy solutions, it provides the facts and evidence gathered from sources in government, industry, academia, and NGOs alike, for readers to understand the issues and make their own judgements.With a foreword by Dr Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency and a leading figure in world energy, The Energy Conundrum comprises eleven chapters covering topics from history and geopolitics to contemporary challenges for climate mitigation and governance. The book also offers realistic case studies which invite readers to try their hand at making energy policy as government energy ministers in two countries with very different circumstances.Related Link(s)
With a Foreword by Dr Fatih BirolHirst provides a wide-ranging account of international energy strategies designed to counter climate change. He argues that six policies hold the key to addressing this global problem: accelerating action on renewables and energy efficiency; making bold investments in new technologies; persuading the public to adapt; taking firm regulatory action; supporting the developing world; and raising the level of global cooperation.Six Energy Policies to Save the Planet takes stock of the situation today, reviews the potential of available technologies, and examines the interlocking roles of business, public opinion, and government. It considers the geopolitics of climate change, in particular the relations between rich and poor countries and between China and the West. Additionally, it outlines the perspectives of some of the key decision makers, including an increasing number located in the developing world. The final chapters assess the current state of international energy governance and propose reforms.Encouraging us to understand underlying trends and significant levers for change, this book is a topical and fresh insight into one of the most pressing issues we face today.
How did mankind change Earth from the beginning? How did changes in technologies change our society and the global climate? And how do we have to change to cope with climate change?Climate change is the ultimate threat in the world today, and it can only be addressed through comprehensive technological and societal transformation. This book examines the financial, technical, and social situation of the world today, and outlines some of the existing policies and technologies that will help us on our long and unpredictable journey through climate change. Three major factors that have led us to today's predicament — our economic system, our own inexcusable ignorance, and continued political inertia — must be addressed, discussed, and changed for the better.This book also deals with the concept of change. How is a successful change defined? What steps are necessary, and which steps come first? Fortunately, there is good news. Innovation and human ingenuity will produce the tools needed to deal with the climate catastrophe. The only question is whether people will themselves be able to change to a sufficient degree. The whole process of change will take generations, it will have to be a joint effort, and the stakes are incredibly high.
Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this practical analysis of the structure, competence, and management of International Energy Agency provides substantial and readily accessible information for lawyers, academics, and policymakers likely to have dealings with its activities and data. No other book gives such a clear, uncomplicated description of the organization’s role, its rules and how they are applied, its place in the framework of international law, or its relations with other organizations. The monograph proceeds logically from the organization’s genesis and historical development to the structure of its membership, its various organs and their mandates, its role in intergovernmental cooperation, and its interaction with decisions taken at the national level. Its competence, its financial management, and the nature and applicability of its data and publications are fully described. Systematic in presentation, this valuable time-saving resource offers the quickest, easiest way to acquire a sound understanding of the workings of International Energy Agency for all interested parties. Students and teachers of international law will find it especially valuable as an essential component of the rapidly growing and changing global legal milieu.
Solar power has become big business, with $131 billion invested in 2018, up from just $11.2 billion in 2004 but down from $171 billion in 2017 as unit costs fell. New installed capacity grew from 1.1GW in 2004 to about 107GW in 2018, a steady rise as solar begins to compete with fossil fuels on cost and to be built in nearly every country.This is a book for the solar workers of the future, a business book for those without a business or economics background and those simply curious about major shifts happening in the world energy economy. Key financial, economic and technical concepts are interspersed with the history of the first decade of cheap solar power, and the author's experience of being part of a successful startup in the clean energy sector.Related Link(s)
We cannot continue on a business-as-usual, carbon fuel dependent mode of operation, because the consequences of doing so are catching up with us. So, what must we do to ensure there is a tomorrow?In this book, experts from around the world come together to shed light on what we can do to preserve and expand resources key to the survival of human civilization — from the state-of-the-art of innovative engineering; to the latest status on energy, energy mix, and advancements in renewable energy — including the complementary energy storage using hydrogen; or innovative architecture for more sustainable buildings, including retrofitting of aging tall buildings; innovative ways to improve our air, water and coastline with nearshore biodiversity reclamation; to the subject of sustainable development through the water-energy-food nexus.This volume is recommended for research and graduate courses on energy and sustainability, and policymakers interested in the subjects.
Ever since the Industrial Revolution energy has been a key driver of world politics. From the oil crises of the 1970s to today’s rapid expansion of renewable energy sources, every shift in global energy patterns has important repercussions for international relations. In this new book, Thijs Van de Graaf and Benjamin Sovacool uncover the intricate ways in which our energy systems have shaped global outcomes in four key areas of world politics: security, the economy, the environment and global justice. Moving beyond the narrow geopolitical focus that has dominated much of the discussion on global energy politics, they also deftly trace the connections between energy, environmental politics, and community activism. The authors argue that we are on the cusp of a global energy shift that promises to be no less transformative for the pursuit of wealth and power in world politics than the historical shifts from wood to coal and from coal to oil. This ongoing energy transformation will not only upend the global balance of power; it could also fundamentally transfer political authority away from the nation state, empowering citizens, regions and local communities. Global Energy Politics will be an essential resource for students of the social sciences grappling with the major energy issues of our times.
Look out for David Owen's next book, Where the Water Goes. The Conundrum is a mind-changing manifesto about the environment, efficiency and the real path to sustainability. Hybrid cars, fast trains, compact florescent light bulbs, solar panels, carbon offsets: Everything you've been told about living green is wrong. The quest for a breakthrough battery or a 100 mpg car are dangerous fantasies. We are consumers, and we like to consume green and efficiently. But David Owen argues that our best intentions are still at cross purposes to our true goal - living sustainably and caring for our environment and the future of the planet. Efficiency, once considered the holy grail of our environmental problems, turns out to be part of the problem. Efforts to improve efficiency and increase sustainable development only exacerbate the problems they are meant to solve, more than negating the environmental gains. We have little trouble turning increases in efficiency into increases in consumption. David Owen's The Conundrum is an elegant nonfiction narrative filled with fascinating information and anecdotes takes you through the history of energy and the quest for efficiency. This is a book about the environment that will change how you look at the world. We should not be waiting for some geniuses to invent our way out of the energy and economic crisis we're in. We already have the technology and knowledge we need to live sustainably. But will we do it? That is the conundrum.
Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine? Is it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of what the right policies are? Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Otherwise, how to explain why Botswana has become one of the fastest growing countries in the world, while other African nations, such as Zimbabwe, the Congo, and Sierra Leone, are mired in poverty and violence? Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or lack of it). Korea, to take just one of their fascinating examples, is a remarkably homogeneous nation, yet the people of North Korea are among the poorest on earth while their brothers and sisters in South Korea are among the richest. The south forged a society that created incentives, rewarded innovation, and allowed everyone to participate in economic opportunities. The economic success thus spurred was sustained because the government became accountable and responsive to citizens and the great mass of people. Sadly, the people of the north have endured decades of famine, political repression, and very different economic institutions—with no end in sight. The differences between the Koreas is due to the politics that created these completely different institutional trajectories. Based on fifteen years of original research Acemoglu and Robinson marshall extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, including: - China has built an authoritarian growth machine. Will it continue to grow at such high speed and overwhelm the West? - Are America’s best days behind it? Are we moving from a virtuous circle in which efforts by elites to aggrandize power are resisted to a vicious one that enriches and empowers a small minority? - What is the most effective way to help move billions of people from the rut of poverty to prosperity? More philanthropy from the wealthy nations of the West? Or learning the hard-won lessons of Acemoglu and Robinson’s breakthrough ideas on the interplay between inclusive political and economic institutions? Why Nations Fail will change the way you look at—and understand—the world.
