ALL-ELECTRIC AMERICA

Reviewed 1/04/2017

All-Electric America cover

ALL-ELECTRIC AMERICA
A Climate Solution and the Hopeful Future
S. David Freeman
Leah Y. Parks
Solar Flare Press, January 2016

Rating:

4.0

High

ISBN-13 978-0-9961747-2-5
ISBN 0-9961747-2-9 223pp. SC/BWI $12.98

Converting America to an energy infrastructure that uses no fossil fuels, or very little of them, has been urgent for a long time. The authors of this book are well-suited to advise us on how to go about making the changeover. S. David Freeman is a 40-year veteran of energy operations in executive positions with organizations like the Tennessee Valley Authority.1 Leah Y. Parks edits a professional journal for electricity-industry executives.2 They have a good handle on the technology, and they understand the history; they are aware that America has dealt with many challenges as formidable as climate change.

In the past, when this nation faced up to a deadly threat or an exciting challenge, we took action collectively. If it was poisonous, we outlawed it, as with DDT. If it saved lives, we mandated it, as with seat belts and airbags. And if it was a challenge, like going to the moon, we funded NASA to build a spaceship to get there. Greenhouse gases are our greatest challenge yet. We will only meet the challenge if the public demands vigorous action by our government now.

– Pages 23-24

Writing in terms accessible to ordinary Americans, they describe the renewable-energy options that are available, focusing on solar and wind. They report on the current status of these options, that now are cost competitive in many areas of the country, and are becoming less expensive at rapid rates. Finally they present a plan that aims at cutting back U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases fast enough to keep the world under the 2°C threshold, a goal the world's scientists consider to be vitally necessary.

That plan is a radically ambitious one, and would certainly face stiff opposition from the special interests determined to stick with business as usual. The key question, of course, is whether it is a workable plan. Since the major obstacles to progress are political rather than technical, I judge that it could be helpful in speeding things along.

However, in my judgment the authors make a serious technical mistake: They categorically dismiss nuclear power. There are two things wrong with their thinking, in my opinion. First, they overlook the advantages of nuclear power and overemphasize the problems. Nothing can touch a nuclear power plant in terms of reliably generating large amounts of carbon-free power in a small area of land. Second, they label nuclear reactors of all types as inherently dangerous. More than 100 nuclear power plants have operated in this country for decades without killing anyone. Certainly nuclear power has its problems. What power source does not? But I continue to believe it can and should be one component of our energy system.

So I will recommend this book. It presents a lot of well-researched information, including descriptions of tools any homeowner can use, like the various kinds of heat pumps. It has extensive endnotes and a decent index. On the down side fall a relatively high number of grammatical and factual errors and, most regrettably, the authors' flawed analysis of nuclear power's place in America's energy system. Because of those defects, I mark it down two notches.

1 Mr. Freeman, according to the book, "was one of the architects of the EPA during the Nixon administration." President Carter appointed him to head the TVA. After that he served as CEO of public utilities including the New York Power Authority, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the Sacramento Municipal Utility district, and the Lower Colorado Water Authority. Mayor Villariagosa appointed him president of the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners in 2005; in that post, he directed the conversion of Port vehicles to clean power.
2 Ms. Parks holds a B.A. in international relations from the University of Wisconsin and an M.S. in civil and environmental engineering from Stanford University. She has done extensive professional work on water projects, resource allocation, and energy storage and distribution.
3 For more on the obstacles facing nuclear terrorism, see Atomic Insights and Vision of Earth.
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