Renewable: The World-Changing Power of Alternative Energy

by Jeremy Shere

Where does the energy we use come from? It's absolutely vital to every single thing we do every day, but for most people, it is utterly invisible. Flick a switch and the lights go on. It might as well be magic. Science writer Jeremy Shere shows us in The World-Changing Power of Alternative Energy that energy is anything but magical. Producing it in fossil fuel form is a dirty, expensive—but also hugely profitable— enterprise, with enormous but largely hidden costs to the entire planet. The cold, hard fact is that at some point we will have wrung the planet dry of easily accessible sources of fossil fuel. And when that time comes, humankind will have no choice but to turn—or, more accurately, return—to other, cleaner, renewable energy sources. What will those sources be? How far have we come to realizing the technologies that will make these sources available?To find the answers, Shere began his journey with a tour of a traditional coal-fueled power plant in his home state of Indiana. He then continued on, traveling from coast to coast as he spoke to scientists, scholars and innovators. He immersed himself in the green energy visiting a solar farm at Denver's airport, attending the Wind Power Expo and a wind farm tour in Texas, investigating turbines deep in New York City's East River, and much more. Arranged in five parts—Green Gas, Sun, Wind, Earth, and Water—Renewable tells the stories of the most interesting and promising types of renewable namely, biofuel, solar, wind, geothermal, and hydropower. But unlike many books about alternative energy, Renewable is not obsessed with megawatts and tips for building home solar panels. Instead, Shere digs into the rich, surprisingly long histories of these technologies, bringing to life the pioneering scientists, inventors, and visionaries who blazed the way for solar, wind, hydro, and other forms of renewable power, and unearthing the curious involvement of great thinkers like Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Nicola Tesla.We are at an important crossroads in the history of renewable technologies. The possibilities are endless and enticing, and it has become increasingly clear that renewable energy is the way of the future. In Renewable, Jeremy Shere's natural curiosity and serious research come together in an entertaining and informative guide to where renewable energy has been, where it is today, and where it's heading.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Environment, Technology, Sustainability

269 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 26, 2013

Reviews

[Cwiegard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a competent introduction to the topic of renewable energy, from a historical perspective. Chapters alternate between back then (efforts to harness renewable energy in past decades or centuries, mostly failures) and today (renewables making up a small slice of the energy pie, but showing a much steeper growth curve than fossil fuels).

It will be well suited to its intended audience, those with little knowledge of renewables, but willingness to learn. Other audiences such as Fox-news-viewing anti-greens, or committed environmentalists with a deep knowledge base, may find it less satisfactory.

At only 280 pages, this effort is too short to be the final word on this important topic. On the plus side, a Master's degree in physics is not required to understand it. One could argue that the shortcoming here is not enough discussion of the future of renewables- though author Shere does mention that many hopes have been dashed in past efforts to harness these power sources, making prophecy a risky area. Spoiler alert: his essentially positive conclusion is that current realities of peak fossil fuel and global warming do make another collapse of the renewables market less likely, dictating a certain inevitability to a continued shift from other sectors of energy generation into renewables.

[Thom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written overview of renewable energy options, broken into sections per type. Each seems to go through the same cycle - history and initial inventions, excitement, then a bust (either from problems, politics, or the price drop in oil during the mid 80s), and finally a resurgence. For example, the infamous White House solar panels get a mention in the solar chapters.

As a survey, this book provides good information, with a bibliography allowing the reader to delve deeper into a particular method. Global warming and the oft-predicted peak oil crash take a back seat in this book that doesn't advocate any particular method but paint these solutions as a likely future.

The only minor downside is some repetition of text, probably so the sections could be read in any order. The most interesting section for me was geothermal, and I enjoyed this book quite a lot.

[Han · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew very little about the history & science of renewable energy and this book provided a lovely rundown of the five major players in the industry - green gas, sun, water, wind, and earth.

the author laid out complex processes & mechanisms in language that was accessible, insightful, and entertaining. I loved the wind, water, and earth chapters in particular, especially learning about geothermal & wave energy - sources of power that are still in their earlier stages compared to renewable energy superpowers like solar panels and wind turbines.

overall, I would like to read another book by this author. I greatly enjoyed his writing voice & the book itself was a great foundation for those looking for a broad overview of the history, science, and pioneers of renewable energy <3

[Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a huge energy nerd so I really appreciated how neatly laid out this book was. It had some pretty cool takes on the energy landscape and Shere gives you a little of everything. Highly recommend for anyone wanting to learn more about our energy landscape in the USA or educate themselves.

[Carlos Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un muy buen relato sobre las energías renovables, básico y sin entrar en la parte técnica, cumple su función de enumerar los diferentes tipos de energías renovables.

Interesante para quienes quieren empezar a conocer esta parte de la energía.

[Siti · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is very much US centric. The push for RES was prompted by 1970's oil embargo and hopefully today as fossil fuel prices sky-rocket, the financial incentives are there again on top of climate ambitions

[Mike Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very decent read. Shere has set out a broad, diverse, and direct Introduction into renewables, the challenges and opportunities within, as well as key stories. Nothing deep or technical, but since written as popular science book, that's excusable.

[Allison Berkowitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this!! This is a subject I've been interested in but didn't know much about. I liked learning about all the various options in renewable energy.

[Kiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for a basic book that would give me a good overview of renewable energy, the history, and where we’re at. This book definitely held my attention and I learned a lot.

[Camille McCarthy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book follows the incredibly interesting field of renewable energy, but is so badly written that I would venture to say it did more to hurt the renewable energy industry than to help it, if anything. The writing was not only awkward but at times grammatically incorrect; he had several sentence fragments and his poor writing was distracting. He repeated many details we didn't really need to know, mostly personal asides which detracted from the subject. His idea of splitting the book into different forms of alternative energy (solar, wind, ethanol, water, and geothermal) was a good plan but within those topics he had a very confusing timeline - he would often start with some modern project or inventor, then go back to some inventor who had worked on this problem a hundred years ago and explain why it didn't work out, then go back and forth between modern day projects and failed past projects. This confused me a few times while reading. i also found the font to be distracting and irritating.
Most troubling was his apathetic attitude about these energies- at the end of the book, and in fact the whole way through, I felt that he was reluctantly forced to write about these issues rather than choosing this topic himself, because he seemed so uninspired. He really enjoyed talking about all the obstacles that faced each of these alternative energy sources and how they needed to compete with coal, oil and gas, but didn't spend much time at all talking about the obstacles which come with coal, oil and gas. It also seemed like he didn't have a good understanding of the science behind any of these technologies as his explanations weren't that good. He even asks in the epilogue if this is some fad that will soon disappear again, just as it did in the 70's, instead of asking when people are going to get fed up with the system we have now which is LITERALLY IN THE PROCESS OF KILLING US ALL. His mealy-mouthed writing angered me and I would not recommend this book to anyone.

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written history of alternative energy that takes the approach that you can't predict the future of a subject without first understanding its past. Dividing itself into sections on wind, solar, geothermal, water, and green gas, the book is full of interesting vignettes and company and individual profiles while certainly never getting too preachy. A really good introduction to the subject for those interested in learning the future of renewable energy on our planet.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book covered a broad range of renewable energy sources, their history and present day status. I felt each topic was researched and presented in enough detail for me to understand both the past and where the future could be headed. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.

[Annie Littrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done, learned a great deal and reinforced my personally thoughts on a cleaner future.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Covering more than the current state of renewable and alternative energy concepts, this book delves into the history of each of them. An interesting look at what got us where we are today.

[Jeff Vovillia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great look at the surprising history of renewables. Covers the main ones that have proven records.

[AL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and well written. A quick read that provided insight into small companies working in interesting niches of the economy related to the environment.

[DaCota Hollar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for a class book review. Learned a lot about green technologies.

[Rik Brooymans · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting primer for those dipping first toes into the world of renewable energy technologies. With a similar people-centric structure, but less tongue-in-cheek approach to scientific explanation for the masses than Mary Roach, it is a very readable journey through the main renewable energy technologies. Using historical precedent to try and lay the foundation for understanding of the technology, and interviewing scientists and engineers on the forefront of today's green energy efforts makes it all accessible. The lightness of touch, however, means the understanding is only skin-deep, something which the author acknowledges early on. I did appreciate the lack of speculation as to where we might be in the middle-distant future - that's inherently unknowable in an industry as complex and ever-changing as energy production and distribution - and something amply demonstrated by some passages that are already starting to feel dated despite the fact that the book was only completed at the end of 2012/beginning of 2013.

For me the book has fulfilled its purpose - to fan a spark of interest in a fascinating subject and to better direct some future reading.

[Aran Brunette]

Interesting, I used it as a reference for my research project.