The Future of Clean Energy: Who Wins and Who Loses as the World Goes Green
Author
Gary Schwendiman
Author Bio
In his groundbreaking new book, The Future of Clean Energy, Dr. Gary Schwendiman details the startling truths he uncovered during ten years of research in clean energy. This experience, combined with a long career studying, working, and contributing to energy and fuel production, led Schwendiman to assert that most popular beliefs about the future of clean energy are simply wrong, and most governments waste billions of dollars on the wrong green initiatives. The truths uncovered in The Future of Clean Energy will be shocking to most people, making it a must-read for everyone from political leaders to energy executives to casual readers with an interest in how we’re going to solve some of the world’s most difficult environmental and economic problems.
Dr. Schwendiman cofounded one of the first private equity firms to invest in clean energy. He has given presentations on clean energy in 26 states and 10 foreign countries. He was a professor at the General Motors Institute and served for 17 years as Dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska. He graduated with honors from Washington State University and earned his Master of Science and PhD degrees from Brigham Young University.
Read Dr. Schwendiman’s complete biography at http://www.futureofcleanenergy.com/
Description
Most books on clean energy are so data-driven and scientific that they’re all but impossible to understand. Fortunately, this isn’t one of them. Visionary author Gary Schwendiman answers the energy sector’s biggest questions in a way that anyone can understand and appreciate. This is as much a book for investors and political leaders as it is for the casual reader with an interest in how we’re going to solve some of the world’s most difficult environmental and economic problems.
How can we combat global warming?
How can we turn the lights on for the 1.5 billion people in the world who currently lack access to electricity?
How can we provide all the additional fuel we’ll need when the number of vehicles worldwide doubles from 1 billion to 2 billion by 2030?
This book answers all these questions in a fun, lighthearted, engaging way. It compares the future of clean energy to a football season that concludes with what Schwendiman calls “The Clean Energy Bowl.” Join him as he examines each energy source as if it were a football team, comparing and contrasting the strongest players until he arrives at the ultimate conclusion: the team best positioned to completely change the world.
During the next few decades, the game will be rough, but the rewards significant. When the dust settles, the environment will be cleaner, the economy stronger, and the world more peaceful. So pack up the tailgate party. Grab your tickets. Get ready for kickoff!
Book excerpt
What if I told you I had a system that could accurately predict which team would win the next Super Bowl? You’d want to place a bet immediately, wouldn’t you? I know I would. Well, the oddsmakers can relax. I don’t have such a system for football. But I think I do have a system that will accurately predict the winner in what I like to call “the Clean Energy Bowl.”
With global warming being such a hot topic today, there is a push to make America’s future energy “clean.” I put the word “clean” in quotes because “clean” is a relative term. There are many considerations that factor into whether and how you can deem an energy source “clean.” For now, however, I’d like to concentrate on the two factors that will make an energy source the most viable in the coming decades: its positive impact on the environment and its ability to stimulate growth of the global economy.
The environmental factor should be obvious. If the future of energy is indeed “clean,” then the sources for energy that have the lowest direct impact on the environment should (should) be favored. But economics, as with anything in the United States, plays a huge role here too.
When I say economics, what I mean is the cost of producing and distributing energy. While it would be great if the cleanest energy sources were the most cost effective to implement and were able to generate the greatest returns on investment, that’s simply not the case. Some cleaner energy sources are more costly or less profitable than some less clean sources. As great as it would be to say that we should just go with the cleanest technologies, that old adage remains true: money talks. So any reasonable examination of the future of “clean” energy must take into strong consideration the economic factors at play.
Many people who speak about clean energy (or any energy) do so in a way that misrepresents its meaning. It’s not unusual to hear a politician say something like, “We need more wind energy and solar energy so we don’t have to import so much oil from other countries.” But it’s just not that simple. When we’re talking about energy, we’re actually talking about two entirely different kinds of energy, and those different kinds of energy aren’t directly related to one another. They belong to totally separate discussions.
One kind of energy is called electricity. This is the energy we use to power our homes and businesses and plug in all of our electrical equipment. The United States uses several sources to produce its electricity, including nuclear, wind, solar, water (which we sometimes refer to as hydroelectric power), geothermal, coal, and natural gas.
The other kind of energy is fuel. This is the energy we use to propel our cars, trucks, buses, trains, planes, and other vehicles. In the United States, the most common sources of fuel are gasoline, ethanol, natural gas, and diesel.
Author Website
http://www.futureofcleanenergy.com
