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Rewiring America
In this book we approach the climate emergency from a new angle. We look for solutions, not barriers. We outline pathways to success.
We don't begin with the question of what is politically possible, but ask what is technically necessary to make a climate solution that is also the best economic pathway for the country. We need mobilization of technology, industry, labor, regulatory reform, and critically, finance.
This pathway is technology-agnostic; we have used the test “is it ready and does it work?'' to understand the ideal way forward. This pathway is best summarized as electrify everything.
We lean on data and an unprecedented analysis of the U.S. energy economy that allows us to look at the consequences of electrifying everything. Will our lives change? The surprising answer is not a lot. Those things that will change, though, are for the better: cleaner air, cleaner water, better health, cheaper energy, and a more robust grid. We can have pretty much all of the complexity and variety of the American dream, with the same-sized homes and vehicles – and we'll need less than half the energy we currently use. This is a success story that casts aside trying to “efficiency” or “deprive” our way to zero emissions.
How do we ensure the lowest cost of energy while electrifying everything? First, we have to rewrite the federal, state, and local rules and regulations that were created for the fossil-fueled world and are preventing the U.S. from having the cheapest electricity ever. Then, we have to finance our transition to a zero-carbon energy system with a low-interest ``climate loan.'' We have precedents and mechanisms for doing this; the U.S. pioneered public-private financing in the past that can help us get the job done today.
The consequence of getting the technology, financing, and regulations right is that we can save every family in the U.S. thousands of dollars a year.
We don't begin with the question of what is politically possible, but ask what is technically necessary to make a climate solution that is also the best economic pathway for the country. We need mobilization of technology, industry, labor, regulatory reform, and critically, finance.
This pathway is technology-agnostic; we have used the test “is it ready and does it work?'' to understand the ideal way forward. This pathway is best summarized as electrify everything.
We lean on data and an unprecedented analysis of the U.S. energy economy that allows us to look at the consequences of electrifying everything. Will our lives change? The surprising answer is not a lot. Those things that will change, though, are for the better: cleaner air, cleaner water, better health, cheaper energy, and a more robust grid. We can have pretty much all of the complexity and variety of the American dream, with the same-sized homes and vehicles – and we'll need less than half the energy we currently use. This is a success story that casts aside trying to “efficiency” or “deprive” our way to zero emissions.
How do we ensure the lowest cost of energy while electrifying everything? First, we have to rewrite the federal, state, and local rules and regulations that were created for the fossil-fueled world and are preventing the U.S. from having the cheapest electricity ever. Then, we have to finance our transition to a zero-carbon energy system with a low-interest ``climate loan.'' We have precedents and mechanisms for doing this; the U.S. pioneered public-private financing in the past that can help us get the job done today.
The consequence of getting the technology, financing, and regulations right is that we can save every family in the U.S. thousands of dollars a year.
133 pages, ebook
Published July 1, 2020
4 people are currently reading
336 people want to read
About the author
Saul Griffith
8 books43 followersSaul Griffith (born 1974) is an Australian American inventor. He is the founder or co-founder of seven companies, including Otherlab (where he is currently CEO), Makani Power, and Instructables.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 26, 2020
A basic primer for how to save the world from the worst destructive forces of climate change.
It presents a plan to electrify everything and source that electricity with wind, solar, water, and, if needed, nukes, and with plenty of batteries. It describes the necessary technical changes that should, in a rational world, work politically.
Two problems: we live in an irrational world and his prescriptions might not be fast enough.
So, following the path he describes is what we must do at the same time closing out eyes and believing it will work.
Every adult should read this book.
Available as a free PDF.
It presents a plan to electrify everything and source that electricity with wind, solar, water, and, if needed, nukes, and with plenty of batteries. It describes the necessary technical changes that should, in a rational world, work politically.
Two problems: we live in an irrational world and his prescriptions might not be fast enough.
So, following the path he describes is what we must do at the same time closing out eyes and believing it will work.
Every adult should read this book.
Available as a free PDF.
December 19, 2020
This is a must-read, easily digestible guide to solving climate change.
September 25, 2020
In 2019 Saul went on Ezra Klein's podcast and said that no one was painting a picture of how awesome an electrified world could be. Rewiring America not only does that, but also show us a viable path to get there.
February 27, 2021
Excelente primer on why we need to electrify everything now. Optimistic but realistic! Not quite enough quant for me personally but the lack of hard/lengthy makes it a bit more accessible to a wider audience and Saul is able to get his point across even without leaning too heavily on quant heavy background.
October 22, 2020
In this handbook Griffith portraits an amazing future where sustainability becomes a feature rather than a liability.
If done right the transition to an electricity powered world could be an opportunity to rebuild (rewire) America's local communities, providing quality jobs all around the country and making US taxpayers save thousands of dollars per year.
Rewiring America is extremely well written and it's a source of great hope.
If done right the transition to an electricity powered world could be an opportunity to rebuild (rewire) America's local communities, providing quality jobs all around the country and making US taxpayers save thousands of dollars per year.
Rewiring America is extremely well written and it's a source of great hope.
December 4, 2020
electrifiying book
March 26, 2021
Saul and his co-authors do a great job in laying out a strategy for the electrification of the economy. They also make a sound case on how such a strategy supports decarbonizing the future.
It is also a book very well documented - with good academic rigor. Indeed it helps as a source for many deniers or the ones who say ¨how are we going to pay for it¨. It is a worth read I must say.
I give it 3 stars because:
- It completely neglects of addressing the potential rebound effects of such an approach.
- It does not challenge the status quo of life as we know it today - which is the underlying condition for many of the crisis we are facing today (including climate change)
- It barely speaks about how to deal properly with the materials demand that such revolution entails. They do speak about recycling but it is a pity nothing like circular business models get explicitly mentioned.
- I also think it could get some benefit from a more professional editor.
Again: this is very good work - but it is incomplete. Hopefully there is a second part to it.
It is also a book very well documented - with good academic rigor. Indeed it helps as a source for many deniers or the ones who say ¨how are we going to pay for it¨. It is a worth read I must say.
I give it 3 stars because:
- It completely neglects of addressing the potential rebound effects of such an approach.
- It does not challenge the status quo of life as we know it today - which is the underlying condition for many of the crisis we are facing today (including climate change)
- It barely speaks about how to deal properly with the materials demand that such revolution entails. They do speak about recycling but it is a pity nothing like circular business models get explicitly mentioned.
- I also think it could get some benefit from a more professional editor.
Again: this is very good work - but it is incomplete. Hopefully there is a second part to it.
July 3, 2021
A wonderfully aggressive and hopeful view as to what a path to fighting climate change that isn't a total bummer might look like.
I think Griffith is a bit more Engineer than he is salesperson, so there's room for punching up some of these messages a bit more (and not over-emphasizing the cost angle), but it's all clearly researched and wonderfully presented.
The only bummer is the sense of urgency. Not because it doesn't work in the book, but when you're done reading and you look up from it, you won't see that urgency anywhere else. That discrepancy can be disheartening.
I think Griffith is a bit more Engineer than he is salesperson, so there's room for punching up some of these messages a bit more (and not over-emphasizing the cost angle), but it's all clearly researched and wonderfully presented.
The only bummer is the sense of urgency. Not because it doesn't work in the book, but when you're done reading and you look up from it, you won't see that urgency anywhere else. That discrepancy can be disheartening.
December 3, 2024
I love the ideas shared here, however, the writing gets so redundant it's painful to read at times.
October 7, 2020
The most clear and cogent plan of action for how we as a nation face climate change — in short, “electrifying everything” gets us nearly all of the way to total decarbonization, using nothing but current-day technology. Most of the road blocks are regulations and incentives that were designed for a fossil-powered energy sector — again, these are not technological obstacles, other countries/jurisdictions have solved them.
The main snag is to get this all done in time to have a decent shot at stopping warming at 1.5°C — it’s far too late for even a very high carbon tax to transform our built infrastructure. Rather than massive public outlays, Griffith proposes the government back “green loans” — jump starting the necessary private investments, much as American did with the creation of the auto loan in the 1920s and the home mortgage in the 1940s.
The main snag is to get this all done in time to have a decent shot at stopping warming at 1.5°C — it’s far too late for even a very high carbon tax to transform our built infrastructure. Rather than massive public outlays, Griffith proposes the government back “green loans” — jump starting the necessary private investments, much as American did with the creation of the auto loan in the 1920s and the home mortgage in the 1940s.
February 20, 2021
this book informed me as an engineer, excited me as an entrepreneur, and inspired me as a mindful human who is aware of his fleeting moment in the cosmos. saul did a wonderful job bringing together leading research and gov data to create a practical guide to decarbonize. in short, he asks for the world to mobilize with wartime-like efforts and invest our time, energy, and funding into renewable technology that have already proven itself (like solar, wind, nuclear, EV). meanwhile, actively cut reliance on oil and gas products in whatever way most appropriate for us personally (teacher, engineer, CEO, entrepreneur...). this book has expanded my interest in climate science and i am excited to learn more about this topic.
November 14, 2020
I wish I could make everyone in the US read this book.
September 21, 2020
Many climate books spend most of their time focused on the climate science, the policy debates or the political challenges. Griffiths thankfully spends little time on these well-travelled topics and instead bring his physicist's perspective to the problem. How much energy do we need? And how can we get it without emitting greenhouse gases? Griffiths charts a compelling path torwards a zero-carbon future using only technologies that exist and work today. He systematically takes on the technological challenges that are often pointed to as insurmountable, and shows that they are fundamentally solvable. And finally he shows that adopting these radically more energy-efficient technologies will substantially reduce our energy requirements to begin with, saving us all a lot of money in the long run. Too many books on this topic paint a grim picture. This one tells us that not only can this be done, but it's going to be awesome.
April 1, 2022
I find the argument here very compelling; the way to fix global warming is to electrify everything while building up a new clean electricity supply. I appreciate how thoughtful the argument is presented in this book and how optimistic so much of it is. Yes it's an expensive project but it's absolutely doable and has lots of other benefits in addition to saving us from global climate catastrophe.\n\nMy one knock on the book is it's a very rough sort of outline. I took this as a rough draft of his book Electrify: An Optimists Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future that is coming out in a few months. I'm glad to have a copy of a sketch now, for free at that. But looking forward to the edited traditionally published book.
September 20, 2023
Excellent technical book that succinctly describes what must be done to reduce our emission in the US.
Namely electrify everything.
Very clearly describes the numbers and while challenging is doable.
The only thing that limits this book is that it is almost too straightforward. Not many narrative explanations, no explanation of the challenges, alternative paths.
It is basically electrify everything and the numbers to do it.
More or less their report put into book form which is a missed opportunity to highlight the opportunities of the clean energy transition, the benefits, the challenges, and the risks.
Namely electrify everything.
Very clearly describes the numbers and while challenging is doable.
The only thing that limits this book is that it is almost too straightforward. Not many narrative explanations, no explanation of the challenges, alternative paths.
It is basically electrify everything and the numbers to do it.
More or less their report put into book form which is a missed opportunity to highlight the opportunities of the clean energy transition, the benefits, the challenges, and the risks.
March 22, 2021
An inspiring call to action, though at times overly optimistic. Filled with lots of great stats, ideas, historical successes of large scale change. One of the few books that actually proposes a battle plan on all fronts for the climate change.
January 27, 2021
I have been reading many books on clean energy. This is one of the best!
March 17, 2021
A lot of things in this book were too simplistic. Still, Griffith has some good and useful points.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews