Energy: The Fuel of Civilization: Choices and False Promises

Energy is the lifeblood of human society. You and I would not live in the advanced world that we live in without the abundant and energy-dense fuels that we now have available to us. In the 21st century, we have a wide range of energy sources that power our devices and that enable our technological advances and our increasingly middle-class population. As a result, we must not curtail energy-rich fuel sources for political or idealogical reasons. Switching to unreliable, less efficient, more expensive energy sources before those alternatives are ready to "fill the shoes" of being primary energy sources in our personal lives and economy is ill-advised at best, destructive and self-defeating at worst. This book will dive into the good and the bad regarding environmentally friendly energy sources and discuss all the energy sources we have available to us, conservation efforts, and the politics of energy. We'll also look at statistics regarding energy usage and production from the past, present and projections for the future. We'll even look at possible future energy sources, including some "pie-in-the-sky" ones.