Review: Solar Revolution: The Economic
Transformation of the Global Energy Industry
By Travis Bradford
Reviewed
by Umar Karim Mirza
Pakistan Institute of Engineering and
Applied Sciences, Pakistan
Travis
Bradford. Solar Revolution: The Economic Transformation of the Global Energy
Industry. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006. 248 pp. ISBN: 978-0-262-02604-8,
US $24.95, Hardcover, Alkaline paper.
Travis
Bradford is the President of the Prometheus Institute for Sustainable
Development which he himself founded in 2003. Before that, he was working in
the financial field. He has also served as a board member and manager of dozens
of public and private companies. He has been a speaker at various universities including
Columbia, Harvard, and Duke, on topics related to finance and alternative
energy economics.
Energy
is essential to our survival and technological advancement. We have now entered
an era where fossil fuels are becoming increasingly extinct. Moreover, too much
reliance on fossil fuels during the last one and a half centuries has already
pushed us toward the brink of environmental crises. Attention has now been
diverted to developing environment-friendly clean energy resources which are
renewable as well. Solar energy, one such resource, is the subject of this
book.
The
book comprises ten chapters divided into four parts. Part I, "The
Inevitability of Solar Energy," contains one chapter in which the author
talks about the present fossil-fuel based energy system, introduces solar
energy with its merits and demerits, and provides an introduction to the coming
parts.
There
are four chapters in Part II, "Past to the Present." A brief history
of energy is presented first. The author then moves on to discuss the present
energy system and rightly terms it as unsustainable both environmentally and
with respect to the magnitude of remaining fossil fuel reserves. The
alternatives are discussed next with the author concluding that hydroelectric
dams; nuclear power; wind energy and other renewable resources like biomass,
geothermal, ocean power; fusion and hydrogen economy are not worthy
alternatives for various reasons. The last chapter in this part is dedicated to
solar energy. A short history of solar energy along with its transition into a
commercial energy source, solar energy markets, solar industry expansion and
cost economics are discussed. The author remarks that solar PV modules
production cost has dropped 86 percent since the late 1970s and it will continue
to drop further in coming years.
Part
III, "Future Transformation," has three chapters. The first one
discusses electric utility economics. It compares the costs of different
electricity generation options. In the next chapter, the author talks about
distributed PV and the future of PV option. The last chapter presents the real
world assessment of solar electricity.
The two
chapters of Part IV, "A Promising Destination," concentrate on
strategies for promoting solar energy and its ultimate recognition as a
successor to fossil fuels. The following appendix briefly describes energy and
electricity measurements. The Notes section is a very detailed one. A useful
index marks the end of the book.
The
main feature of this book is the assimilation of much recent yet scattered
information. The subject matter is not technical. It is mostly theoretical and
economics-oriented in nature. This is not surprising keeping in view the
background of the author. Solar Revolution can prove a good reference
for energy policy students but may not suffice as a stand-alone textbook as it
is not written in textbook style. The other recommended audience would comprise
policymakers, politicians, environmentalists, journalists, government officials
and lawmakers.
Umar Karim
Mirza <mmensan152@yahoo.com>,
Ph.D. Scholar, Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences, P.O. Nilore, Islamabad 45650, Pakistan. TEL: 92-51-2207381, FAX:
92-51-9223727.
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Electronic Green Journal, Issue 25, 2007
ISSN: 1076-7975