Books & Resources

Current Status and Potential for Algae Biofuels Production

A Report to IEA Bioenergy Task 39

Al Darzins (NREL), Philip Pienkos (NREL), Les Edye (BioIndustry Partners)
IEA Bioenergy Task 39. August, 2010

Nuclear Firsts

Milestones on the Road to Nuclear Power Development

Marcus, Gail H.
American Nuclear Society, 2010

Nuclear Firsts is the first book to comprehensively trace the technical evolution of nuclear power development, both in the United States and elsewhere. In all, about 80 facilities and events in more than 10 countries are profiled. Developments in reactor technologies of all types are covered, as well as developments in reprocessing, enrichment, waste disposal, and some non-electric applications of reactors (radioisotope production, district heating, desalination, and neutron beam therapy). The book also covers the first government and private organizations that developed around the nuclear industry.

Why We Hate The Oil Companies

Straight Talk from an Energy Insider

Hofmeister, John
Palgrave Macmillan, 2010

Why We Hate the Oil Companies skewers both ends of the energy political spectrum, from "drill, baby, drill!" conservatives to "no more carbon!" liberals. In frank commentary sprinkled with insider anecdotes, outspoken former energy executive John Hofmeister tackles the energy controversies head-on without regard for political correctness. His contentions may be outrageous (there is no shortage of energy; global warming is not the issue; government's handling of energy is dysfunctional), but the solution he lays out is a pragmatic plan to transition away from fossil fuels toward an affordable, sustainable energy future.

Power Hungry

The Myths of "Green" Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future

Bryce, Robert
Jackson, TN: The Perseus Books Group, 2010

Power Hungry delivers a clear-eyed view of what America has in the tank, and what's needed to transform the gargantuan global energy sector.

The Big Rich

The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes

Burrough, Bryan
New York: The Penguin Press, 2009

Weaving together the multigenerational sagas of the industry's four wealthiest families, Burrough brings to life the men known in their day as the Big Four: Roy Cullen, H. L. Hunt, Clint Murchison, and Sid Richardson, all swaggering Texas oil tycoons who owned sprawling ranches and mingled with presidents and Hollywood

Two Billion Cars

Driving toward Sustainability

Sperling, Daniel and Deborah Gordon
New York: Oxford University Press, 2009

With statistical data, charts, graphs, and erudite analysis, Sperling and Gordon present the most thorough study of the automobile industry general readers could hope to find. The authors, with a foreword from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, summarize the history of the Big Three automakers and then expand their scope to include Toyota, Honda, and others.

Uranium

War, Energy, and the Rock That Shaped the World

Zoellner, Tom
New York, Viking Penguin, 2009

Zoellner delves into the complex science, politics and history of this radioactive mineral, which presents the best and worst of mankind: the capacity for scientific progress and political genius; the capacity for nihilism, exploitation, and terror.

The End of Energy Obesity

Breaking Today's Energy Addiction for a Prosperous and Secure Tomorrow

Tertzakian, Peter
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2009.

In The End of Energy Obesity, energy expert and bestselling author Peter Tertzakian explores solutions to this question by analyzing the role of technology and circumstance on our energy use.

Green Recovery

Get Lean, Get Smart, and Emerge From the Downturn on Top

Winston, Andrew S.
Boston: Harvard Business Press, 2009

When the economy turns rough, many companies sideline their green business initiatives. That's a big mistake. In Green Recovery, Andrew Winston shows that no company can afford to wait for the downturn to ease before going green.

Energy Shift

Spiegel, Eric and Neil McArthur with Rob Norton
New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009

Energy Shift: Game-Changing Options for Fueling the Future is a one-stop resource for busy executives and senior policymakers who need a reliable, accessible guide to the big strategy questions surrounding energy.

Hot, Flat, and Crowded

Why We Need A Green Revolution—and How It Can Renew America

Friedman, Thomas L
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008

Thomas L. Friedman's no. 1 bestseller The World Is Flat has helped millions of readers to see globalization in a new way. Now Friedman brings a fresh outlook to the crises of destabilizing climate change and rising competition for energy—both of which could poison our world if we do not act quickly and collectively.

A National Strategy for Energy Security

Recommendations to the Nation on Reducing U.S. Oil Dependence

Energy Security Leadership Council
Washington, DC: Securing America's Energy Future, 2008

Who Moved My Smokestack?

America's Failure to Protect Our Jobs and Stop the Erosion of the American Dream

Holbrook, Don A.
Xlibris, 2008

Is globalization really the reason or is America just losing its focus? What is really happening to the American economy? Why is America failing to protect the people's jobs? Is there hope to stop the erosion of the American Dream?
Holbrook declares that the United States needs to be at the forefront of globalization, or be relegated to the status of a once-great society.

Red Hot Lies

How Global Warming Alarmists Use Threats, Fraud, and Deception to Keep You Misinformed

Horner, Christopher
Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing Inc., 2008

It's standard operating procedure for the global warming industry: they've ruined careers, blacklisted respected scientists, and knowingly spread lies about dissenters. Global warming fanatics have even called for the imprisonment of skeptics and used government pressure to cut off rivals' funding. As if all that weren't enough, one global warming skeptic has had the lug nuts on his tires secretly loosened when his rejection of climate change orthodoxy became public.

Apollo's Fire

Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy

Inslee, Jay and Bracken Hendricks
Washington, DC: Island Press, 2008

This is a thoughtful, optimistic book, based on sound facts. No one before has tied together the concepts of economic growth and greenhouse gas reductions with such concrete examples. No one has previously told the real stories of the people who are right now on the front lines of the energy revolution.

The Prize

The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power

Yergin, Daniel
New York: Free Press, 1991, rev. 2008

Now with a new epilogue that speaks directly to the current energy crisis, The Prize recounts the panoramic history of the world's most important resource: oil.

Terrestrial Energy

How Nuclear Power Will Lead the Green Revolution and End America's Energy Odyssey

Tucker, William
Savage, Maryland: Bartleby Press, 2008

Veteran journalist William Tucker has relied on years of research and investigation to help us make sense of America s energy predicament without the burdens of political pressures or predetermined outcomes.

Beyond Fossil Fools

The Roadmap to Energy Independence by 2040

Shuster, Joseph M.
Edina, MN: Beaver's Pond Press, 2008

If the U.S. solves only its own energy problem, but the world does not, then everyone still loses. Pollution knows no borders and a sinking ship takes down everyone on board. That is why all countries must do what they can to affect a global transition to all-renewable, clean energy by 2040. That means a coordinated global effort with global scope. That means leadership from the United States, Europe, China, India, and Japan. That means diligent commitment from average citizens around the world, and corporate and national leaders.

The First Billion Is the Hardest

Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and America's Energy Future

Pickens, T. Boone
New York: Crown Publishing, 2008

From a businessman who is extraordinarily humble yet is considered one of the world's most visionary, The First Billion Is the Hardest is both a riveting account of a life spent pulling off improbable triumphs and a report back from the front of the global energy and natural-resource wars—of vital interest to anyone who has a stake in America's future.

Big Coal

The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future

Goodell, Jeff
New York: Mariner Books, 2007

Despite a century-long legacy that has claimed millions of lives and ravaged the environment, coal as a fuel source is making a comeback. In a compelling blend of hard-hitting investigative reporting, history, and business analysis, this work illuminates the stark economic imperatives America faces.

Hard Truths

Facing the Hard Truths about Energy

Committee on Global Oil and Gas, National Petroleum Council
Washington, DC: National Petroleum Council, 2007

The American people are very concerned about energy—its availability, reliability, cost, and environmental impact. Energy also has become a subject of urgent policy discussions. But energy is a complex subject, touching every part of daily life and the overall economy, involving a wide variety of technologies, and deeply affecting many aspects of our foreign relations.

The Age of Turbulence

Adventures in a New World

Greenspan, Alan
New York: Penguin Books, 2007

Alan Greenspan shares the story of his life first simply with an eye toward doing justice to the extraordinary amount of history he has experienced and shaped. But his other goal is to draw readers along the same learning curve he followed, so they accrue a grasp of his own understanding of the underlying dynamics that drive world events.

Carbon Strategies

How Leading Companies Are Reducing Their Climate Change Footprint

Hoffman, Andrew J.
Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2007

Carbon Strategies describes specific steps any business can take to implement sound, practical, climate-related corporate policies.

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism

Horner, Christopher C.
Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2007

It's time to stand up to the environmentalist industry and insist: human beings are not the enemy. In breezy, light-hearted, and always entertaining fashion, The Politically Incorrect Guide(tm) to Global Warming and Environmentalism gives you the facts you need to do so.

Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies Program Multi-Year Research, Development and Demonstration Plan

U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Washington, DC: rev. 2007

Terra Incognita

A Navigation Aid for Energy Leaders

Ross, Christopher E.H. and Lane E. Sloan
Tulsa, OK: Pennwell Books, 2007

Terra Incognita addresses the forthcoming transition in energy supplies and shift from conventional oil as the strategic energy source. It identifies the leadership challenges ahead and summarizes the lessons learned from interviews with more than 20 energy company CEOs and senior leaders.

Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions

How Much at What Cost?

McKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Co. and The Conference Board. December, 2007

Blue Planet in Green Shackles

What Is Endangered: Climate or Freedom?

Klaus, Vaclav
Washington, DC: Competitive Enterprise Institute, 2007

In this brilliantly argued book, Klaus argues that the environmental movement has transformed itself into an ideology that seeks to restrict human activities at any cost, and that policies being proposed to address global warming are both economically harmful -- especially to poor nations -- and utterly unjustified by current science.

National Security Consequences of U.S. Oil Dependency

Independent Task Force Report No. 58

Deutch, John and James R. Schlesinger, chairs
Washington, DC: Council on Foreign Relations, 2006

An Inconvenient Truth

The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It

Gore, Al
New York: Rodale, 2006

With this book, Gore, who is one of our environmental heroes—and a leading expert—brings together leading-edge research from top scientists around the world; photographs, charts, and other illustrations; and personal anecdotes and observations to document the fast pace and wide scope of global warming. He presents, with alarming clarity and conclusiveness—and with humor, too—that the fact of global warming is not in question and that its consequences for the world we live in will be disastrous if left unchecked.

The Law Of Biofuels

A Guide to Business and Legal Issues

Stoel Rives Biofuels Team
Stoel Rives, LLP, 2006

Biofuels: Think Outside the Barrel

Khosla, Vinod
PowerPoint presentation, Khosla Ventures, August 2006

Is Ethanol Controversial? Should it be?

Khosla, Vinod
White paper, September 2006

Imagining the Future of Gasoline

Separating Reality from Blue-sky Dreaming?

Khosla, Vinod
White paper, September, 2006

A Near Term Energy Solution

Khosla, Vinod
White paper, September 2006

Review of the research program of the FreedomCar and fuel partnership

Committee on Review of the FreedomCar and Fuel Research Program, Phase 1, Board on Energy and Environmental Systems, Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council of the National Academies
Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2005

Energy for the Public

The Case for Increased Nuclear Fission Energy

White, R. Stephen
BookSurge Publishing, 2005

The Long Emergency

Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-first Century

Kunstler, James Howard
New York: Grove Press, 2005

Kunstler has established himself as one of the great commentators on American space and place. Now, with The Long Emergency, he offers a shocking vision of a post-oil future. The last two hundred years have seen the greatest explosion of progress and wealth in the history of mankind. But the oil age is at an end.

Twilight in the Desert

The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy

Simmons, Matthew R.
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2005

Investment banker Simmons offers a detailed description of the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the U.S and our long-standing dependence upon Saudi oil. With a field-by-field assessment of its key oilfields, he highlights many discrepancies between Saudi Arabia's actual production potential and its seemingly extravagant resource claims.

Boiling Point

How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists, and Activists Are Fueling the Climate Crisis—and What We Can Do to Avert Disaster

Gelbspan, Ross
New York: Basic Books. 2004

Gelbspan, a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, offers no less than a call to arms in this treatise on how global warming is a threat and how it can be avoided. Gelbspan expands the argument about global warming: not only is the current U.S. administration to blame, but journalists and activists are as well.

The Petroleum Industry

Mergers, Structural Change, and Antitrust Enforcement

U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Economics
Federal Trade Commission staff study, Washington DC: 2004

Global Scenarios and Mapping Tools

Jet Stream Contexts to 2025
London: Shell International Limited, 2004

The Hydrogen Economy

Opportunities, Costs, Barriers, and R&D Needs

Committee on Alternatives and Strategies for Future Hydrogen Production and Use, Board on Energy and Environmental Systems, Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences, National Research Council and National Academy of Engineering of the National Academies
Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2004

The Future of Nuclear Power

An Interdisciplinary MIT study

Beckjord, Eric S., ed.
Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003

The Party's Over

Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies

Heinberg, Richard
Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New Society Publishers, 2003

In The Party's Over, Richard Heinberg places this momentous transition in historical context, showing how industrialism arose from the harnessing of fossil fuels, how competition to control access to oil shaped the geopolitics of the 20th century, and how contention for dwindling energy resources in the 21st century will lead to resource wars in the Middle East, Central Asia, and South America.

Balancing Natural Gas Policy

Fueling the Demands of a Growing Economy, Volume II, Integrated Report

National Petroleum Council
Washington, DC: National Petroleum Council, 2003

Precious Air

The Kyoto Protocol and Profit in the Global Warming Game

Reed, Alan
Albuquerque, NM: Green Fields America, 2003

Precious Air is the definitive study of global warming's affect on global economics, public policy, and commodities finance. Here is the story of the UN struggles that produced the Kyoto Protocol and the new emissions trading industry.

Gas Prices: How Are They Really Set?

United States Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Governmental Affairs
Washington, DC: 2002

Nuclear Imperatives and Public Trust

Dealing With Radioactive Waste

Carter, Luther J.
Washington, DC: Resources for the Future, Inc, 1987

Secrets of the Temple

How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country

Greider, William
New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 1987

In this penetrating study of the Federal Reserve Board in the Reagan era, Rolling Stone writer Greider (The Education of David Stockman) views the "Fed" chairman (until recently Paul Volcker) as the "second most powerful" officer of government, the high priest of a temple as mysterious as money itself, its processes unknown to the public and yet to be fully understood by any modern president.

Cadillac Desert

The American West and Its Disappearing Water

Reisner, Marc
New York: Viking, 1986

In this stunning work of history and investigative journalism, Reisner tells the story of conflicts over water policy in the West and the resulting damage to the land, wildlife and Indians.