A must read

There are few people who think so thoughtfully and clearly about energy in its fullest sense as Walt Patterson. He is trained as a nuclear physicist and has published thirteen books and hundreds of papers, articles and reviews, on nuclear power, coal technology, renewable energy, energy systems, energy policy and electricity. Since 1991 he has been a fellow of what is now the Energy, Environment and Development Programme at Chatham House in London.  He is a visiting fellow of the Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex and is also on the editorial board of European Energy Review.

Walt takes the subject of “electricity” to its essence, so that the reader fully understands where our energy policy comes from so that one slowly builds up an understanding and a perspective that gives us an important view of the future. Walt has been working on this new book for a considerable time. His words and his ideas are compelling. This is one book all EiD followers must read.

Electricity Vs Fire: The Fight For Our Future

Why can’t you breathe in Beijing? Why are governments wrangling over the Arctic seabed? Why have we ever more extreme weather worldwide? The answer is fire. Fire in heaters, furnaces, engines and power stations is poisoning air in megacities everywhere. Feeding fire is why governments worry about fuel supplies. Fire produces the carbon dioxide upsetting planetary systems. Fire threatens our future.

We think of fire as welcoming. But fire is violent, extreme, rapidly turning resources into wastes, toxic and pernicious. Yet we still rely on fire, even when we need not, and despite the ever intensifying problems fire creates. To address pollution, security, and climate we need to minimize human use of fire.

Fire, however, has let us control electricity. Electricity, in turn, may save us from fire.

The website provides several comments from experts about the book. One I found particularly enlightening was by Ralph Torrie from Canada:

“It won’t be a new and improved light bulb that transpires the transition to a brighter future, it will be a new and improved narrative. In Electricity Vs Fire: The Fight For Our Future, physicist and master storyteller Walt Patterson provides a hopeful metaphor for our troubled times. Read it and leap!”

This book is a must read for EiD followers.

Information on how to obtain the book is available from Walt’s website.