Sunday Burgs book review
The False Promises of Green Energy by Andrew P. Morris. William T. Bogart, Roger E. Meiners, and Andrew Dorchak, Cato Institute, 2011.
Reviewed by William Mashburn Sr. of Blacksburg. He is Professor Emeritus Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech and is executive director of the Institute of Energy Professionals. Mashburn is also founder of the Energy Management Diploma Program.
A recent Wall Street article stated green energy is turning brown. A more recent article entitled “Dark Times Fall On Solar Sector” describes how many solar panel manufactures worldwide have gone bankrupt. It is apparent that many green products such as wind and solar power are too far ahead of their time to be economically feasible.
In the book “The False Promise of Green Energy” the distinguished authors critically and realistically evaluate the claims of green energy and green jobs. The book examines the claims green energy proponents make, including assertions of how green energy will revitalize the job market, produce new forms of clean transportation and improve environmental health and safety, energy efficiency, and more. The authors explore the underling politics and gamesmanship lurking below the surface.
The book describes the proponents of green energy as being a large, vocal alliance of special interests – corporations, politicians, and environmentalists – who have found common cause in demanding huge taxpayer subsidies for an assortment of programs under the rubric “green jobs.” It describes the ultimate agenda as being far larger and more insidious than acknowledged, and that green energy mobilization calls for restructuring the world’s economy and social organization on the basis of myths about forecasting technologies and economics.
The authors contend that top-down control programs offered by green energy and green job advocates are unlikely to achieve positive results compared with allowing competitive forces to continue to provide ever greater environmental quality and energy efficiencies.
Several titles have been on the New York Times bestseller list for a year or more so be sure to add them to your summer reading list. Still going strong after 87 weeks on the list and holding the number two spot is “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand. This is the story of survival and fight against all odds during World War II. Also long on the list is “Killing Lincoln” by Bill O’Reilly. Amazon calls this a “riveting historical narrative of the heart-stopping events surrounding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.” And finally, only 37 weeks on the list is “Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson. Based on over 40 interviews with Jobs during the two years before his untimely death in 2011, this is a riveting biography detailing the life of the genius behind Apple.
Don’t miss these other hot reads this summer:
- “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Chest Trail” by Cheryl Strayed. Selected by Oprah to be the first of her 2.0 book club titles, “Wild” is an honest and mesmerizing memoir written by a 26-year old as she tackles 1,100 miles of the 2,663 mile hike alone.
- “It worked for Me: In Life and Leadership” by Colin Powell is a look at the experiences and influences that have shaped his leadership style and his life over his many years of public service. General Powell likes to tell stories and it shows in this extremely readable and thoroughly enjoyable memoir.
- “Dream Team: How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever” by Jack McCallum. Written by a senior editor at Sports Illustrated, this is an inside look at the basketball team that took America and the world by storm during the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. This is an Olympic year and there are comparisons to the team competing in London right now. If only we could have a game pitting 1992 v. 2012!
-If you would like to be a guest reviewer, email palston@mfrl.org.
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