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Blackout
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| List Price: | $18.95 |
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Product Description
"Blackout is an important and timely book. In the form of this compact volume, one of the best and most productive peak oil authors working today has turned his customary scholarhsip, wisdom, wit and writing prowess to some of the most ciritical issues now unfolding on our planet. "- Frank Kaminski, Energy Bulletin
Coal fuels about 50% of US electricity production and provides a quarter of the country’s total energy. China and India’s ferocious economic growth is based on coal-generated electricity.
Coal currently looks like a solution to many of our fast-growing energy problems. However, while coal advocates are urging full steam ahead, increasing reliance on the dirtiest of all fossil fuels has crucial implications for climate science, energy policy, the world economy, and geopolitics.
Drawbacks to a coal-based energy strategy include:
- Scarcity—new studies prove that the peak of usable coal production may actually be less than two decades away.
- Cost—the quality of produced coal is declining, while the expense of transport is rising, leading to spiralling costs and potential shortages.
- Climate impacts—our ability to deal with the historic challenge of climate change may hinge on reducing our coal consumption in future years.
Blackout goes to the heart of the tough energy questions that will dominate every sphere of public policy throughout the first half of this century, and it is a must-read for planners, educators, and anyone concerned about energy consumption, peak oil, and climate change.
Richard Heinberg is a journalist, editor, lecturer, and senior fellow of the Post Carbon Institute. He is one of the world’s foremost peak oil educators and the award-winning author of seven previous books, including Peak Everything and The Party’s Over.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #113219 in Books
- Published on: 2009-07-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 208 pages
Features
- ISBN13: 9780865716568
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Customer Reviews
A new side to the coal debate
Typically, coal is seen as an insufficient energy source to solve the energy crisis because it is too dirty. In this compact and thorough addition to the coal debate, Richard Heinberg argues what may be the true limit of coal-- finite reserves. Heinberg covers the disaster global warming may become-- melting glaciers and thawing tundra could unleash positive feedbacks; melt the ice, less light reflects out, melt the tundra, the potent greenhouse gas methane could be released. But most of the book gives an excellent analysis of coal reserves in key regions: the U.S., China, Russia, India, South Africa, Australia, and several other regions around the world. The conclusion: global coal extraction may peak within two decades. China may peak in coal production as early as 2015.
Heinberg argues that humans are more likely to react to peak oil (see Heinberg's "The Party's Over" for more info on that) by using more coal, rather than choosing to use less due to global warming, unless alternatives can be found to replace coal. Most notable as alternatives are natural gas, hydro and nuclear, as briefly discussed. All three share unique challenges, notably finite uranium 235 for light water reactor-type nuclear plants if fast reactors aren't used, finite gas, and geographic and drought limits to hydro. Heinberg discusses alternatives more thoroughly in "The Party's Over." He feels coal will be ramped up in spite of alternatives and global warming concerns, and may well be right.
As a result, a Hubbert peaking analysis is applied to all major coal producing regions extremely thoroughly, based on numerous studies, giving an extremely thorough account of just how much coal the world has. China is in a precarious situation since it uses so much coal so fast, and may soon peak. All aspects are discussed: different grades of coal, regional transport issues, and ease of mining a seam. For example, Russia has a reserves to production ratio indicating a 500 year supply, but most of the high-quality, european coal deposits near cities are near peak. It is only massive reserves of low-grade coal in distant Asian Siberia that keep the reserve count high. Extracting this would be more expensive, dirtier, and have major transport bottlenecks.
The book concludes with a discussion of new coal technologies like IGCC (Integrated Gassification Combined Cycle) and CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage). While these new technologies may make coal burn more efficiently, they add to cost and are unlikely to allow capture and storage of carbon long-term. Basically, nothing can be done to prevent major coal shortages a few decades from now, so a transition to a lower-energy society may be needed if alternatives don't materialize. This book provides one of the most thorough, up-to-date accounts of the coal situation to date. And the picture isn't very pretty. Although, we'll probably run out of the stuff before global warming becomes extreme, so perhaps a "blackout" is preferable to "die-off." In that sense, peak coal is a positive.
A tremendously important book
Subtitled Coal, Climate and the Last Energy Crisis,the author presents every bit of information we need in order to understand the policy and life conduct decisions we will make in the very near future concerning decline in available energy resources, and then details three scenarios, and shows us, again based on facts, where each choice will lead us. Two out of three scenarios lead inexorably to the title of the book, Blackout, in all its finality. The third leads to a much leaner society, but one in which greater human values take precedence over the crass materialism of our age,a scenario in which humankind survives and flourishes.
Compared to his previous, wonderful book Peak Everything, Blackout is not an easy read. The extreme seriousness of our predicament in coming to the end of the age of fossil fuels makes it a very solemn read, but urgently necessary if we care at all how our grandchildren will live out their lives.
Great Technical Analysis of Coal Reserves and Comsumption
The book begins by exposing the flaws of using R/P ratios to forecast future supplies of coal, which ironically is the most common method used to estimate how much coal we have. The author instead lays out a thorough argumnet that coal supplies must be estimated using a Hubbart-curve type of analysis, similar to that used to forcast future oil supplies. Different types of coal, and a history of their uses are also discussed in the early pages.
The bulk of the book (more than half of it) is structured as a review/summary of several recent studies of coal supplies in different regions all around the globe. The author presents a balanced set of studies, summarizes their findings and forecasts, and then critiques them. The author does not simply state which study is correct, but rather points out the robustness and validity of each study, slowly building a body of evidence and a conclusion about the future of coal in a given region. These pages were surprisingly technical and were a bit of a chore to read at times, but the presentation of hard facts builds a more credible position on future coal supplies and is valuable to the book.
The book continues by briefly discussing coal and how its use relates to climate change. New coal technologies are discussed, such as carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) and integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC). The current status of these technologies is presented along with some discussion of their future role in coal usage. Although IGCC can improve the efficiency of coal-fired electricity, it also greatly increases the cost, as does CCS. It is a good summary of new coal technology, and disects facts from hype.
The book concludes with three potential scenarios in which our usage of coal is very different. They range from the collapse of industrial society to the transition of a low-energy, sustainable future. They are interesting and thought provoking.
Overall this book is well-researched, logically-presented, and well-explained. If you are interested in a realistic analysis of coal, a resource on which our dependency will only grow, read this book. You will also learn how much our future depends on how we choose to use (or not use) coal.
