Our Renewable Future

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

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2. Introduction

   • Richard Heinberg, David Fridley

   Pages 1-12

3. The Context: It’s All About Energy

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 13-13

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   2. Energy 101

      • Richard Heinberg, David Fridley

      Pages 15-33

   3. A Quick Look at Our Current Energy System

      • Richard Heinberg, David Fridley

      Pages 35-43

4. Energy Supply in a Renewable World: Opportunities and Challenges

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 45-45

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   2. Renewable Electricity: Falling Costs, Variability, and Scaling Challenges

      • Richard Heinberg, David Fridley

      Pages 47-80

   3. Transportation: The Substitution Challenge

      • Richard Heinberg, David Fridley

      Pages 81-94

   4. Other Uses of Fossil Fuels: The Substitution Challenge Continues

      • Richard Heinberg, David Fridley

      Pages 95-113

   5. Energy Supply: How Much Will We Have? How Much Will We Need?

      • Richard Heinberg, David Fridley

      Pages 115-130

   6. What About . . . ?

      • Richard Heinberg, David Fridley

      Pages 131-141

5. Preparing for Our Renewable Future

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 143-143

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   2. Energy and Justice

      • Richard Heinberg, David Fridley

      Pages 145-159

   3. What Government Can Do

      • Richard Heinberg, David Fridley

      Pages 161-171

   4. What We the People Can Do

      • Richard Heinberg, David Fridley

      Pages 173-179

   5. What We Learned

      • Richard Heinberg, David Fridley

      Pages 181-197

6. Back Matter

   Pages 199-226

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This volume explores the challenges and opportunities presented by the shift to renewable energy. Beginning with a comprehensive overview of our current energy system, the authors survey issues of energy supply and demand in key sectors of the economy, including electricity generation, transportation, buildings, and manufacturing. In their detailed review of each sector, the authors examine the most crucial challenges we face, from intermittency in fuel sources to energy storage and grid redesign. The book concludes with a discussion of energy and equity and a summary of key lessons and steps forward at the individual, community, and national level.

• fossil fuel dependence
• renewable sources
• clean energy
• energy storage
• energy usage
• Climate change management

• Post Carbon Institute, Santa Rosa, USA

  Richard Heinberg

• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, USA

  David Fridley

Richard Heinberg is Senior Fellow-in-Residence of Post Carbon Institute and is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost educators on the need to transition away from fossil fuels. He has authored scores of books, essays, and articles that have appeared in Nature, Christian Science Monitor, the Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere; has been quoted and interviewed countless times for print, television, and radio; and has spoken to hundreds of audiences in fourteen countries.

 

David Fridley is a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), where he is deputy group leader of the China Energy Group. His work has involved extensive collaboration with China on end-use energy efficiency and modeling, industrial energy use, energy policy research, low-carbon city development, and energy supply assessment. He has published dozens of articles in peer-reviewed journals and authored chapters in three books. Prior to joining LBNL he was a consultant on downstream oil markets in the Asia-Pacific region and a business development manager for Caltex China. He is a Fellow of Post Carbon Institute.

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