Overview

Climate change, power failures, tanker spills and energy wars: our profligate ways have doomed us to suffer such tragedies, right? Perhaps, but Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran, the environment and energy correspondent for The Economist sees great opportunity in the energy realm and Power to the People is his fiercely independent and irresistibly entertaining look at the economic, political and technological forces that are reshaping the world's management of energy resources. In it, he documents an energy revolution already underway and exposes both the enormous risks to humanity and planet Earth and the massive opportunities and rewards afforded by our insatiable hunger for energy. From the corporate boardroom of a Texas oil titan who denies the reality of global warming to the Rocky Mountain Institute where visionary Amory Lovins is developing hydrogen fuel-cell technology that could make the internal combustion engine obsolete, Vaitheeswaran gamely pursues the people who hold the keys to our future. It is clear that the quest for energy is insatiable. Yet it is also essential. By avoiding the traditional divide that pits free marketers against the wisdom of conservation and the need for clean energy, Power to the People debunks myths without debunking hope.

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9781844071760

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Reviews

As good a manifesto for the new energy world as you will find' Fred Pearce, New Scientist 'Vaitheeswaran's book is by far the most helpful, entertaining, up-to-date and accessible treatment of the energy-economy-environment problematique available' Scientific American 'Debunk[s] some of the 'truisms' currently spouted on both the left and the right? [Vaitheeswaran's] lucid and entertaining book is informative and insightful' Publishers Weekly 'Offers a balance of international viewpoints from industry, environmental groups, politicians, regulators, and 'visionaries'...Readers wanting a change from the gloom and doom of some environmental writing will appreciate this work' Library Journal 'In the easy, fluent style that makes Vijay Vaitheeswaran so readable in The Economist, Power to the People examines the energy future, including the prospects for fossil fuels, with a calm rationality that will surely command the respect of people across the political spectrum. It does so in a spirit of optimism that doesn't prescribe a disruptive trade-off between preserving our environment and providing enough energy for continuing human progress' BP Chief Executive Lord Browne of Madingley 'Well reasoned, insightful and tempered. At a time when the whole world is increasingly worried about our energy future, Vaitheeswaran takes us on an engaging, and ultimately hopeful, exploratory journey, investigating the many choices that lie ahead' Jeremy Rifkin, author of The Hydrogen Economy 'Whether you are a pessimist, a sceptic or an optimist, Power to the People will challenge your assumptions without offering simplistic answers' Achim Steiner, IUCN - The World Conservation Union 'In a crucial area of public discourse that is too often dominated by flamethrowers from either side of the political spectrum, Power to the People provides a welcome relief: a balanced assessment of where we are, how we got here and where our actions today may be taking us in the years ahead' Robert N. Stavins, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

As good a manifesto for the new energy world as you will find' Fred Pearce, New Scientist 'Vaitheeswaran's book is by far the most helpful, entertaining, up-to-date and accessible treatment of the energy-economy-environment problematique available' Scientific American 'Debunk[s] some of the 'truisms' currently spouted on both the left and the right... [Vaitheeswaran's] lucid and entertaining book is informative and insightful' Publishers Weekly 'Offers a balance of international viewpoints from industry, environmental groups, politicians, regulators, and 'visionaries'...Readers wanting a change from the gloom and doom of some environmental writing will appreciate this work' Library Journal 'In the easy, fluent style that makes Vijay Vaitheeswaran so readable in The Economist, Power to the People examines the energy future, including the prospects for fossil fuels, with a calm rationality that will surely command the respect of people across the political spectrum. It does so in a spirit of optimism that doesn't prescribe a disruptive trade-off between preserving our environment and providing enough energy for continuing human progress' BP Chief Executive Lord Browne of Madingley 'Well reasoned, insightful and tempered. At a time when the whole world is increasingly worried about our energy future, Vaitheeswaran takes us on an engaging, and ultimately hopeful, exploratory journey, investigating the many choices that lie ahead' Jeremy Rifkin, author of The Hydrogen Economy 'Whether you are a pessimist, a sceptic or an optimist, Power to the People will challenge your assumptions without offering simplistic answers' Achim Steiner, IUCN - The World Conservation Union 'In a crucial area of public discourse that is too often dominated by flamethrowers from either side of the political spectrum, Power to the People provides a welcome relief: a balanced assessment of where we are, how we got here and where our actions today may be taking us in the years ahead' Robert N. Stavins, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Author Information

Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran is an award-winning journalist and The Economist?s environment and energy correspondent, covering developments in politics, economics, business and technology as they relate to energy issues. Born in Madras, India, he grew up in the United States and graduated from MIT with a degree in mechanical engineering. He currently lives in New York.

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