Who Turned Out The Lights Feed

Energy Book Blog

Peiting Chen — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:31:11 -0500

Lights On!

We've been spending a lot of time living with the problems of energy and climate change, and these blog posts are our way of asking the questions that must be answered, and making sense of the ideas being debated on how to fuel the future. Read on, buy the book, and join in with your comments – because no matter what formula's adopted, it won't be real unless we all work together.

Unrest, Instability & Oil Insecurity, by Scott Bittle, On The Agenda, February 24, 2011

Even With No New Coal Plants, We’ll Still Be Wolfing Down Fossil Fuels, by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, Planet Forward Great Energy Challenge blog at NationalGeographic.org, January 3, 2011

The Return of $100 a Barrel Oil: A Blessing and a Curse?, by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, Planet Forward Great Energy Challenge blog at NationalGeographic.org, December 13, 2010

Love Them, Leave Them, Need Them? Americans and Their Cars, by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, Planet Forward Great Energy Challenge blog at NationalGeographic.org, November 29, 2010

Why America Isn’t in the Driver’s Seat When it Comes to Energy, by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, Planet Forward Great Energy Challenge blog at NationalGeographic.org, November 15, 2010

Who Turned Out the Lights? Everybody, by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, Planet Forward Great Energy Challenge blog at NationalGeographic.org, November 6, 2010

Apparently, Failure is an Option on Energy: Now What?, by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, The Huffington Post, August 3, 2010

On the Public and Climate Change, It's Not the Heat or the Cold, It's the Curve, by Scott Bittle, On The Agenda, July 9, 2010

Getting From Magical To Practical, by Scott Bittle, On The Agenda, June 25, 2010

Real Change On Energy, by Scott Bittle, On The Agenda, June 17, 2010

Beyond Deepwater: Energy & The Environment, by Scott Bittle, On The Agenda, June 10, 2010

Stopping And Starting On Energy, by Scott Bittle, On The Agenda, May 27, 2010

A Forced Choice On Offshore Oil?, by Scott Bittle, On The Agenda, May 6, 2010

Sorry, it's Malignant: Why Scientists Need a New Approach on Climate Change, by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, The Huffington Post, March 16, 2010

Load 16 (Clean?) Tons And What Do You Get, by Scott Bittle, On The Agenda, Feb. 4, 2010

China as the Global Warming Bridezilla - - and America's Handy Excuse for Dawdling, by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, PowerHomeBiz.com, Dec. 17, 2009

Three Flawed Ideas That Could Mean A Cold Homecoming From Copenhagen, by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, smartbooks.com, December 2009

"How To Make The Fate Of The Planet Boring," by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, Huffington Post, Dec. 14, 2009

The Real Danger Of "Climategate" by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, On The Agenda, Dec. 7, 2009

Homer Simpson & America's Energy Problem by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, Washington Post, Dec. 4, 2009

Will A Delay On The Climate Treaty Be Time Well-Spent? by Scott Bittle, On The Agenda, Nov. 16, 2009

Enough With the Global Warming Graphics, Get to the Choices by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, Huffington Post, Nov. 12, 2009

Choices For The Future by Scott Bittle, On The Agenda, Nov. 11, 2009

The Energy Debate We Should Be Having by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, Forbes.com, Nov. 10, 2009

The Best Idea Yet On Climate Change by Scott Bittle, On The Agenda, Nov. 2, 2009

The Great Energy Debate Pop Quiz, by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, Blogspot.com, November 2, 2009

Where are the Swing Voters on the Climate Bill? by Scott Bittle & Jean Johnson, 800ceoread, Oct. 28, 2009

Even If They're Right, the Superfreakonomics Guys Only Have Half An Answer by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, Huffington Post, Oct. 28, 2009

Will America's Short-Term Memory Loss Kill the Climate Bill? by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, Informed Consent, Oct. 28, 2009

The Smart Approach to a Smart Grid by Scott Bittle, On The Agenda, Oct. 27, 2009

The Number That Matters Most For Climate Change, by Scott Bittle, On The Agenda, Oct. 26, 2009

The Walls Come Tumbling Down: Is Stonewalling Finally Over on Energy?, by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, Huffington Post, Oct. 20, 2009

The Moviegoer's Guide To The Energy Crisis," by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, Blue Planet Green Living, Oct. 9, 2009

"Climate Change: Making Anxiety An Asset," by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, Huffington Post, Sept. 25, 2009

"Does Delay Mean Disaster? Depends" by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, Huffington Post, Sept. 19, 2009

Energy Book Press Release

Peiting Chen — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:51:09 -0400

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Teresa Brady at 212-207-7170 or
Samantha DuPont at 212-686-6610, ext. 37

From the editors of PublicAgenda.org, comes an entertaining, irreverent, and absolutely essential nonpartisan guide to the energy crisis

WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS?

YOUR GUIDED TOUR TO THE ENERGY CRISIS
By Scott Bittle & Jean Johnson

“How far will we go to satisfy our oil addiction, and who will decide our energy future? If you want in on this discussion, then this book is for you. Bittle & Johnson make clear that while our energy crisis is real, there are also real solutions available right now; all we have to do is listen, learn, and act.”

—Antonia Juhasz, author of The Tyranny of Oil: the World’s Most Powerful Industry—And What We Must Do To Stop It

“In this clear, concise, and accessible book, Bittle and Johnson go beyond name calling and finger pointing and take a refreshing middle ground. It’s an invaluable read for anyone interested in our energy past, present, and future.”

—Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder, authors of The Clean Tech Revolution

In 2008 bestseller, Where Does the Money Go? Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson cut through the confusing political jargon to give readers an unbiased, understandable, and even humorous look at the federal budget crisis. In WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS? (Harper Paperbacks; October 27th, 2009), Bittle and Johnson are back to tackle a subject even more controversial and confusing: The Energy Crisis.

Energy is a problem that never seems to go away, despite our best efforts to ignore it. Why has there been so much talk and so little action? WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS? offers a much needed reality check: The “Drill, Baby, Drill” versus “Every Day is Earth Day” battle is not solving our problems and the finger-pointing is just holding us up.

By applying the same winning approach they used to irreverently explain the federal budget crisis in Where Does the Money Go?, Bittle and Johnson use pop culture to help define the fundamental concepts that shape the debate and explain the three risks we face: that we won’t be able to afford energy, that we’ll run out of it, and that we’ll destroy the planet before we have a chance to solve the problem. They guide readers through a range of ideas on the agenda, including alternative fuels, nuclear power, conservation, alternative forms of transportation, and alternative living patterns, and then outline the pros and cons of each. They focus on the some of the most important issues of the energy debate, including:

Right now, most Americans lack even the most basic knowledge to get involved in the energy debate. Surveys show 4 in 10 Americans can't name a fossil fuel, and half can't name a renewable energy source. More than half say nuclear energy contributes to global warming, and a third think the same thing about solar power. To make matters worse, very few of our leaders are leveling with us about what we’ll need to do to solve our problems.

Much of the debate focuses on global warming, and that's a crucial issue we've got to take on soon. But what gets less attention is how the entire world is demanding more energy, and how tough it’s going to be to get it. China and India, in particular, are booming to the point that more and more people there are able to live like we do. The best estimates are that world energy demand will rise 45 percent by 2030, and experts are asking troubling questions about where all that energy is going to come from.

The U.S. energy supply system is shaky. We import nearly 60 percent of our oil, much of it from countries that are politically unstable. Our oil and gas pipelines are aging, and our electricity grid is overloaded. We need to make some serious decisions about our energy supply and serious investments in our energy infrastructure. Right now, the transmission system isn’t even capable of supporting substantial use of wind and solar power.

Fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas provide 80 percent of our energy, and "green" alternatives like wind and solar only small fractions—less than one percent each. Even if we make changes at maximum speed, we're going to be using fossil fuels for a long time. How can we use them to keep the environmental damage to a minimum? How can we make sure we have enough of them while we still need them?

Changing light bulbs isn’t enough. Yes, the small "green" things we do in our everyday lives can add up. But we're not going to be able to avoid big decisions, too: Do we continue to use coal? Do we switch to electric cars? Should we build more nuclear plants? What do these decisions mean for our economy? It’s costly to make these changes, but sticking with the status quo poses serious economic dangers too.

Also included in WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS? are answers to questions you pretend to understand, but don’t:

What exactly are biofuels and carbon sequestration, and why do they matter?

Why are we making ethanol from corn when there are worldwide food shortages?

Is nuclear power so dangerous that it should be taken off the table as an option?

In the end, Bittle and Johnson present options from the right, left, and center but take just one position: the country must change the way it gets and uses energy, and the first step to making changes is understanding the choices.

About the authors: Scott Bittle is executive editor of PublicAgenda.org, where he has prepared citizen guides on more than twenty major issues including the federal budget deficit, Social Security, and the economy. He is also the website director for Planet Forward, an innovative PBS program designed to bring citizen voices to the energy debate.

A co-founder of PublicAgenda.org, Jean Johnson has written articles and op-eds for USA Today, Education Week, School Board News, Educational Leadership, and The Huffington Post.

WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS?
Your Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis
By Scott Bittle & Jean Johnson
Harper Paperbacks
October 27th, 2009
ISBN: 9780061715648
$16.99
www.PublicAgenda.org
www.harpercollins.com

Energy Book Contact Us

Peiting Chen — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:06:05 -0400

SEE PRESS RELEASE

SCHEDULE AN INTERVIEW

Journalists, policymakers and others with inquiries about the book or requests for interviews with the authors should contact Samantha DuPont, at media@publicagenda.org or by phone at 212-686-6610, extension 37.

Send questions and comments to: WhoTurnedOutTheLights@publicagenda.org.

Energy Book Fossil Fuels

Peiting Chen — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:07:42 -0400

The Great All-In-One
Fossil Fuel Centerfold

A web extra from Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, authors of
"Who Turned Out The Lights? Your Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis"

Anyone who's traveled abroad knows how handy it is to master a couple of basic phrases in the local tongue. If you can say "please," "thank you," and "how much is this garish T-shirt?" you can generally get the help you need. The same principle applies to the energy issue. Master just a few basic phrases and concepts, and you're a long way toward grasping the key points.

Here's our fossil fuel centerfold [centerfold?! absolutely - get the book and see this feature in its natural environment] to help you get on top of the energy debate.

Type of fuel	How It’s Used	Fossil Fuel?	How Much Do We Have?	Renewable?	The Big Question
	Nearly 70 percent of energy in the United States is used for either transportation or electricity.	They’re called fossil fuels because they’re created when long- dead plants and animals are turned into fuel after lying under the Earth’s crust for millions of years. Fossil fuels are responsible for 98 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. CO2 is a key cause of global warming.	Do we have enough for current needs? What about the future?	The EPA defines renewables as fuels that are “continuously replenished on the Earth.” We don’t have to worry about running out of them.	What challenges lie ahead? What are the big decisions the country faces?
Petroleum	Mostly for transportation. Every year, Americans use about a quarter of the oil produced worldwide.	Yes. Whether it’s crude oil, diesel, gasoline, or jet fuel, burning it releases carbon dioxide, which adds to global warming.	The United States has about 2.4 percent of the world’s known oil reserves.	Afraid not.	We have to import it, and it’s causing global warming. Plus it won’t last forever. The big question is what to replace it with.
Coal	It’s used to generate about half of the country’s electricity.	Yes, and if you’re worried about global warming, it’s one of the most dangerous. Burning it releases 25 percent more carbon dioxide than petroleum and twice as much as natural gas.	A lot. The United States has the world’s largest known coal reserves, enough to last a century, maybe more.	Nope. Creating it takes millions of years.	Are there ways to burn coal without releasing carbon dioxide? Many experts say it’s worth working on, but it won’t be cheap. (More in Chapter 7 in the book).
Natural gas	It generates about a fifth of the country’s electricity and is the main source of heat in more than half of U.S. homes.	Yes, but one of the least harmful. Burning it releases less carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen than burning either oil or coal.	The United States has about 3.6 percent of the world’s known reserves.	Nope. Just like oil and coal, it takes millions of years to form.	Natural gas can be liquefied and used to replace gasoline. Is that a good idea or not? (See Chapters 8 and 12 in the book).
Hydroelectric	Dams generate about 6 percent of the country’s electricity.	Nope. It’s just flowing water, and the process doesn’t pollute the air or the water.	A lot, but about half the country’s hydroelectric power is in California, Oregon, and Washington state.	As long as the rivers keep flowing, yes.	Hydroelectric power doesn’t pollute, but damming rivers can cause problems for fish and wildlife. (More in Chapter 10 in the book).
Solar	Less than 1 percent of our energy comes from solar. It’s used mainly to generate electricity.	Nope. In fact, solar doesn’t use “fuel” at all, just the sun.	Plenty, but more in some places (Phoenix) than others (Seattle).	We certainly hope so. No sun, no us.	Solar is in its infancy, but the government hopes that it will be economically competitive by 2015. (See Chapter 10 in the book).
Wind	It generates less than 1 percent of our power, mainly for electricity.	Nope. Wind is created by weather patterns. There are no plants, animals, or carbon dioxide involved at all.	More than enough, but like solar, some regions (such as the Great Plains) are better suited to this than others.	Yes; the answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind.	We’ll need to build a lot more turbines and a grid system to transport the power from the plains to the city folk. (See Chapter 10 in the book).
Geothermal	Currently it supplies less than 1 percent of our electricity, but California has more than thirty plants up and running	Nope, and the process releases minimal amounts of carbon dioxide.	There’s quite a lot in the West, where there are a lot of volcanoes and geysers.	Yes; as long as the Earth’s core is hot, we’re in business.	Now we use geothermal power that’s near the Earth’s surface, but some experts say it’s possible to tap heat deep inside too. (More in Chapter 10 in the book).
Biomass and biofuels	Now it’s roughly 3.6 percent of our overall energy use. You can burn this stuff in your fireplace, but we also use biomass to generate electricity, and fuels such as ethanol to power cars.	No. We’re talking about the current crop of plants and plant waste: trees, corn, even corn husks, peanut shells, and some garbage. Burning it releases carbon dioxide, but since plants absorb carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, it’s basically a wash.	It’s a big country with plenty of plants and trees and garbage galore.	Yes; unless we wipe them out, the plants will always be with us.	This is a big category, and some forms are more promising than others. (More in Chapter 12 in the book).
Nuclear	It generates about 19 percent of the country’s electricity.	No. Uranium doesn’t come from fossils, and generating electricity from nuclear power produces almost no green house gases— about as much as wind power.	The United States has about 6 percent of the world’s known recoverable uranium.	Uranium ore is not renewable, but most experts believe there’s enough worldwide to go around.	Can we keep nuclear plants safe from terrorists and store the waste securely? (More in Chapter 9 in the book).

Sources: BP Statistical Review of World Energy, 2009, Energy Information Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and World Nuclear Association.

Energy Book Fast Facts About Energy

Peiting Chen — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:57:38 -0400

Fast Facts About Energy

A web extra from Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, authors of
"Who Turned Out The Lights? Your Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis"

Energy consumption in the United States has more than tripled in the last 60 years. The energy predicament we face, both domestically and globally, can be understood simply as a problem of supply and demand. U.S. demand for energy currently outpaces our levels of production and that gap is projected to widen in the future. In the past year or so, you’ve doubtless heard prominent figures from across the political spectrum stress the urgency of America’s energy independence for both political and environmental reasons. So if we’re going to close the gap between demand and production, something’s got to give – be it reducing demand, upping production or perhaps a little of both.

DID YOU KNOW ...? FAST FACTS ABOUT ENERGY

Energy consumption exceeds production

Energy consumption per person

Energy consumption per sector

Sources of energy

U.S. dependence on petroleum

Number of vehicles per household

Top suppliers of oil to the U.S.

World oil reserves

World natural gas reserves

World coal reserves

Sources of electricity

World energy demand

World energy demand by source

Carbon Dioxide Emissions: 1990-2004 Selected Countries

U.S. Carbon Dioxide Emissions by Fuel Type, 2006

| See Next Chart >>

Energy Book Do As the French Do

Peiting Chen — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:53:32 -0400

When In Doubt, Do As The French Do?

A web extra from Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, authors of
"Who Turned Out The Lights? Your Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis"

It may be irritating to admit it, but a number of other countries have plunged further ahead on changing their energy use than Americans have. In debates about what the United States could do, there are four countries that get mentioned frequently as examples to follow, or if you prefer, Gallants to our Goofus .¹

As we run through these possible role models, however, let’s remember that the United States still has some unique issues. We’re much bigger and more car-dependent than most other countries. But we may be able to learn from what other nations have done – and from the tradeoffs they've had to make.

Everyone Knows It's Windy: Denmark

Denmark is a showcase for wind power, spurred by the fact that the Baltic Sea provides a nice steady wind source, both offshore and on. Now Denmark gets 20 percent of its electrical capacity from wind. Other European countries, including Germany and Spain, have also invested big in wind power based on Denmark’s example.

Denmark is certainly proof that wind power can work, but the Danes also have a couple of advantages over the United States. One is that Denmark is small, so the electricity generated by wind turbines doesn’t have to go long distances.

The situation is quite different in the United States, where many of the best locations for wind power tend to be on the Great Plains, well away from the cities that need the electricity. To move that wind electricity to where it's needed, the United States will have to invest in an improved electric grid, to the tune of at least $20 billion. The Danes put government incentives behind wind as well.

Denmark also proves that wind power isn’t cheap. The Danes pay some of the highest electricity rates in Europe: about 32 cents a kilowatt-hour in 2006, compared to 22 cents in Germany, 14 cents in France, and 10 cents in the United States.

Sugar, Sugar: Brazil

In Brazil, biofuels are king. They’ve been using ethanol for decades, and that (combined with the fact that Brazil has made significant domestic oil discoveries) has helped make Brazil self-sufficient in energy, after importing 80 percent of its oil in the 1970s. Advocates of biofuels frequently cite Brazil as an example of what can be done.

So why can’t ethanol do the same thing here? For one thing, Brazil uses sugarcane to make ethanol, not corn as in the United States. Sugar ethanol just works better, since sugar has six times the energy value of corn; almost all experts agree on that.

Brazil devotes more than half its sugar crop to ethanol, but since the United States isn’t as big a sugar producer, the economics don’t work as well here, either. In 2007, the United States devoted 25 percent of its corn crop to ethanol, but that only accounted for 5 percent of all the liquid fuel used that year. In the long run, the American answer may be "cellulosic" ethanol made from inedible plants like switchgrass, but that technology is years away. So for now, either we import sugar ethanol (which doesn’t help our energy independence) or we stick with the less effective version.

The cooling towers of the Cattenom nuclear power plant anchor the background of this rural scene in the northern Lorraine region of France.

Nuclear Savoir Faire: France

In the early 1970s, France chose to do exactly the opposite of the United States (which, come to think of it, could be a defining French national characteristic, and vice versa). France committed to nuclear power, and they weren’t deterred by either Three Mile Island or Chernobyl.

In 1980, the French got 24 percent of their electricity from nuclear power, compared to 27 percent from coal and 19 percent from oil. By 1990, French electricity was 75 percent nuclear, with coal and oil reduced to 10 percent combined.² That really makes a dent in greenhouse gas emissions.

The downsides for France are much the same as for the United States. The French nuclear safety record is excellent, but they still have the problem of disposing of nuclear waste. Instead of burying it, they recycle or “reprocess” it so it can be used again. In fact, they often take in nuclear waste from other countries and reprocess it for them.

The United States decided against reprocessing back in the 1970s, worried that the reprocessed fuel would become a magnet for terrorists looking for potential bomb material. Whether you bury it or recycle it, however, dealing with nuclear waste is a long-term commitment that will still require attention decades or centuries from now.

Cooking With Gas: Great Britain

The British also historically relied heavily on coal, for both electricity and for home heating. That combination, along with natural fog, helped give London its dark and smoky reputation. In 1952, in fact, an estimated four thousand Londoners died from a smog bank that didn’t lift for days.

In the 1990s, Britain decided to shift away from coal to cleaner natural gas—and that was a big shift. Coal is abundant, it’s cheap, and it has a storied history in Britain (rent How Green Was My Valley sometime). In 1990, it provided 65 percent of the United Kingdom’s electricity, compared to 1 percent for natural gas. By 2000, coal was down to 33 percent and natural gas was up to 39 percent.

The downside? Britain had a thriving coal industry for more than a century, and it doesn’t anymore. The “dash for gas” is “one reason why the British mining industry, once the nation’s largest employer, has shriveled.

1. What, you never got Highlights for Children?

2. U.S. Department of Energy, “Fact Sheet: France’s Radioactive Waste Management Program,” accessed March 15, 2009; William Tucker, “There Is No Such Thing as Nuclear Waste,” Wall Street Journal, March 19, 2009; Heritage Foundation, “Recycling Nuclear Waste: The French Do It, Why Can’t Oui?” December 28, 2007; and Jon Palfreman, “Why the French Like Nuclear Energy.”

Energy Book Emergency

Peiting Chen — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:49:40 -0400

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve: In Case Of Emergency, Break Glass

A web extra from Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, authors of
"Who Turned Out The Lights? Your Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis"

Sitting in a series of caverns in Texas and Louisiana are more than 700 million barrels of crude oil, arguably representing the only consistent energy policy the United States has had over the last three decades: the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The reserve was established after the Arab oil embargo in the early 1970s to insulate the United States against future oil shocks. In theory, it’s supposed to provide at least ninety days’ worth of net imports. In fact, Congress has authorized the reserve to expand to 1 billion barrels.¹

There’s also a smaller reserve specifically to provide about ten days’ worth of home heating oil to the Northeast in a winter emergency. The government buys oil for the reserve, but until 2008 it was more usual for oil companies to give crude to the reserve in lieu of paying cash royalties for drilling on government land or offshore.²

A technician checks a valve on a wellhead assembly at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve's Big Hill site near Beaumont, Texas.

We’re not alone in having a backup stock of oil; twenty-eight nations around the world also have strategic petroleum stocks for the same reason, all part of an international agreement to ensure stable oil supplies. The goal isn’t to be energy independent but to buy time in case of an embargo or natural disaster. The most recent time the reserve was tapped was in fact part of an international effort to deal with the problems caused by Hurricanes Katrina, Ivan, and Rita in 2005, which knocked out oil refineries and sent prices rising worldwide.

There have been two big debates over the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the years. One debate is when it should be tapped. Some people argue that the reserve is only there for emergencies, moments when the actual physical supply of oil is threatened, as with Hurricane Katrina or the first Gulf War.

Others argue that the reserve is more like an oil bank account that you can tap into whenever oil prices are unusually high, or even for other policy reasons. For example, in the 1990s, when Congress didn’t project that the reserve would be needed anytime soon, it sold some of the oil to reduce the federal budget deficit.³

The other debate is whether we should have the reserve at all. Some conservative critics say the strategic reserve just discourages private industry from keeping enough oil on hand. In addition, experts at the Cato Institute have argued that by the time the government actually gets reserve petroleum to the market, it’ll be too late to head off any damage from price increases.

We should keep in mind, though, that oil companies keep smaller inventories than they used to (twenty-two “days forward” for crude oil and twelve days for gasoline in 2007, compared to twenty-nine and thirty days, respectively, in 1980). Partly, that’s for economic reasons (because it costs oil companies money to have inventory sitting there unused). At least some of those private inventories would be needed to keep oil transportation itself running—remember, we’re so dependent on oil for transportation that we need it to move the rest of the oil around.

When we talk about oil stockpiles, however, it’s worth remembering that in reality the reserve would last more than ninety days. The ninety-day guideline indicates how long the reserve would last if the United States were completely cut off from all oil imports, and short of putting a giant dome over the country, as the government did to Springfield in The Simpsons Movie, that’s not going to happen. It’s hard to imagine anything that could cut off oil imports from everywhere, including Canada and Mexico (which, as we’ve seen, actually supply more oil to the United States than countries in the Middle East).

The worst that’s likely to happen would be a major oil-supplying country turning off the tap for one reason or another, such as Saudi Arabia (11 percent of U.S. imports) or Venezuela (10 percent). Worldwide, the International Energy Agency reports that government reserves and private industry stocks could cover 150 days of oil imports for the member countries: five months of supply.

1. U.S. Department of Energy, “Expanding the Nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve,” accessed March 29, 2009, http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/reserves/spr/expansion-eis.html.

2. Congress ended this practice in 2008. Congressional Research Service, “The Strategic Petroleum Reserve: History, Perspectives and Issues,” September 19, 2008, http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL33341_20080919.pdf.

3. U.S. Department of Energy, “Releasing Crude Oil From the Strategic Petroleum Reserve,” accessed March 29, 2009, http://www.fe.doe.gov/programs/reserves/spr/spr-drawdown.html.

Energy Book Take A Look

Peiting Chen — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:48:22 -0400

Take A Look Inside The Book

Our book cover is pretty cool but we don't expect you to decide to buy it just based on that. Here's a look at the table of contents from "Who Turned Out The Lights? A Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis." Consider this our mini-tour - - of what's waiting for you inside the book.

Table Of Contents

Preface: Where We're Coming From

Chapter 1: Six Reasons the United States Needs to Get Its Energy Act Together

• Playing the Blame Game

• The Great Energy Debate Pop Quiz

• Suppose People in China Really Start Living the Way We Do

Chapter 2: Groundhog Day, or Haven't We Seen This Movie Before?

• America’s Energy Chronicles, or How We Got to Where We Are Today

Chapter 3: Giving the Voters What They Want

Chapter 4: Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time - -
or How Three Flawed Ideas Could Get Us Off Track

• A Message to Our Readers

Chapter 5: The Basics: Ten Facts You Need to Know

• The Great All-in-One Fossil Fuel Centerfold

Chapter 6: Double, Double, Oil, and Trouble

• Peak Oil, or When Will We Run Out?

• The Return of Snidely Whiplash: Are Evil Speculators to Blame?

Chapter 7: You Load Sixteen Tons and What Do You Get?

• Clean Coal: The Ad Wars

Chapter 8: It's All Right Now (In Fact, It's a Gas)

Chapter 9: Time for the Nuclear Option?

• Chernobyl and Three Mile Island: Twice-Told Tales

Chapter 10: As Long as the Wind Blows and the Sun Shines

• Dam It: Hydroelectric Power

• Looking for the Newest Hot Spots: Geothermal Power

• Grid and Bear It: Why the United States Needs a New Electricity Grid

Chapter 11: No Place Like [an Energy-Efficient] Home

• Are We Looking to Live in All the Wrong Places?

• On the Rebound: Why More Efficiency Doesn’t Always Save Energy

Chapter 12: Driven to Distraction

• The Big Bang Theory of Auto Safety

• Take Your Pick: Food or Fuel?

Chapter 13: Looking for Mr. Wizard

• Green-Collar Jobs, You Say? Name Some

Chapter 14: Sitting on Top of the World

• Setting the Global Thermostat: How to Tell if We’re Really Making Progress on Climate Change

Chapter 15: So Now What? Ideas from the Left, Right, and Center

• This Little Piggy Went to Market; This Little Piggy Passed Laws

• President Obama’s Promises

Chapter 16: The Reality Show

Energy Book Appendix

Peiting Chen — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:46:21 -0400

Appendix: Where To Find
More Than You've Ever Wanted
To Know About Energy

A web extra from Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, authors of
"Who Turned Out The Lights? Your Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis"

1. Where To Fill In The Blanks

Even in three hundred and some pages, there's a lot we haven't covered. Luckily your tax dollars have paid for a lot of very good energy information on the web. The following are our favorite official energy sites.

The Energy Information Administration

While writing this book, we've practically fallen in love with the Energy Information Administration, the federal agency which seems to compile statistics on every single kind of energy and studies on most of the important questions the country is facing. As far as we can tell, nearly everyone relies on EIA statistics, and their web site should be the number one destination for anyone who wants to know more.

The U.S. Department of Energy

DOE's site is huge since it's set up to serve all sorts of experts, producers, and regulators, as well as typical citizens, but their sections on "Energy Sources" and "The Environment," are quite accessible and informative. One especially nice feature is their link to the various "Kids Pages" on energy. If our kids and their teachers are actually using all this material, the next generation may well be a lot savvier about energy than we are.

Environmental Protection Agency

The EPA site is large, aiming to serve all sorts of needs and constituencies. If your main purpose is getting a better grip on the issues, you can head straight to the "Learn the Issues" section, which is quite useful. EPA also has good information for consumers and homeowners, which we highlight below.

Minerals Management Service

This is the government agency that leases federal land and offshore areas for energy exploration, and if this is an area that interests or concerns you, the MMS provides some easily understandable details on what they're doing and why they do it.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

The NRC licenses nuclear reactors in the U.S., and the "Fact Sheets and Brochures" section of the NRC Electronic Reading Room is a good place to start. They have detailed summaries on everything from new reactor designs to what happened at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island.

2. A Walk On The Other Side Of Town

Most Americans tend to approach the energy issue with opinion about the environmental movement and the energy industry—good, bad, and otherwise. Wherever you start, we think a trip around the major web sites of the "opposing point of view" is time well spent. Here are our recommendations for the most intriguing industry and environmental web sites. Their names are self-explanatory, but you might be surprised by what you find if you peek inside. They're fascinating.

Energy Producers	Environmental Groups
The Natural Gas Supply Association	National Resources Defense Council
Nuclear Energy Institute	The Wilderness Society
American Coalition for Clean Coal Technology	Environmental Network News
Chevron Corporation	Greenpeace
American Petroleum Institute	Environmental Defense Fund
T. Boone Pickens	The Nature Conservancy

3. Getting Your Own Act Together

We've pointed out several times that the country needs some broad policy changes to tackle its energy problems, but that doesn't mean you don't need to get your own act together. Here's where to find out what you need to do.

Personal Emissions Calculator

The EPA helps you find out how much you personally contribute to global warming, but their calculator assumes you have a car. Public transit riders get off scot free.

Renovations and Buying More Energy Efficient Appliances

Energy Star is the Grand Central Station of government conservation information. You can find out what you need to do and whether you can get a tax break for doing it.

Your Car

Whether you're planning on buying a brand new Maserati Gran Turismo or a "pre-owned" 1987 Buick LeSabre, this government website can tell you what kind of mileage it will get.

4. Both Sides Of The Climate Debate

Yes, we did promise this, didn't we? In the book, we say right up front that we're not refighting the climate change debate. Everything we've learned researching this issue says that most scientists, government officials and even leaders in the energy industry accept that climate change is real and caused by humans. And even if you don't, there are plenty of other reasons to change how we use energy. But it's not unanimous - not much ever is - so if you'd like to see what both sides are saying, here are some places to start. We've chosen places that present the information in the most accessible ways.

Yes, It's Real And Important	No, It's Not
National Geographic	Climate Skeptic: A Layman’s Guide to Manmade Global Warming
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Inst. of Technology Climate Time Machine	Climate of Fear: Global-warming alarmists intimidate dissenting scientists into silence by Richard Lindzen
An Inconvenient Truth Official Web Site, The Science	Heretical Thoughts About Science And Society by Freeman Dyson

5. International Issues

We've tended to focus on the challenge facing the U.S. and what we should be doing here in our own country, but that doesn't mean that the global issues aren't crucial. Here are some of the best places to start thinking globally while we act nationally.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Organized by the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization, IPCC won the Nobel Prize for its work on global warming. This is the place to check out both its reports and learn more about its activities.

International Energy Agency

IEA is the policy organization for 28 countries including the United States, Japan, and most of Europe. You might want to start with a free download of its rundown of Key World Energy Statistics.

The Energy Information Administration

EIA is part of the U.S. Department of Energy, but it provides detailed information and projections on the energy needs and activities of more than 200 countries.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

This is the group that organized the Kyoto Protocol which set greenhouse emissions targets accepted by 192 countries (although not the U.S.). A new conference is set for December 2009 in Copenhagen to negotiate a new arrangement; this is the place to get specifics on the discussions.

6. Getting Off The Computer

There's a massive amount of information online, but some of the best thinking and analysis can be found in books. Load them onto your e-reader if that's your preference, but however you do it, these books can get you thinking:

Robert Bryce, Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of "Energy Independence," Paperback, 2009.

Kenneth S. Deffeyes, Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert's Peak, Paperback, 2006

David Goodstein, Out of Gas: The End of the Age Of Oil by (Paperback - Feb 17, 2005)

Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It, Paperback, 2006

Lisa Margonelli, Oil on the Brain: Petroleum's Long, Strange Trip to Your Tank, Paperback, 2008

Paul Roberts, The End of Oil: On the Edge of a Perilous New World, Paperback, 2005

Matthew R. Simmons, Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy, Paperback, 2006

Daniel Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power, Paperback, 2008

Who Turned Out the Lights? - Energy Book Main page

Peiting Chen — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:23:33 -0400

WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS: WEB EXTRAS

APPENDIX: MORE THAN YOU
WANT TO KNOW

We wrote a 300-page book, but this issue just keeps on going. Here are links to some of the best sources on energy and climate change.

TAKE A LOOK INSIDE THE BOOK

Check out what we're offering in our table of contents: we hope it will leave you wanting more.

DO AS THE FRENCH DO?

Four countries are usually held up as energy examples. Find out why, and whether it could work for us.

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY,
BREAK GLASS

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is America's "Plan B" on energy, but how much good is it?

FOSSIL FUEL,
OR NOT?

Your handy cheat sheet to our energy options: the pros, cons, and maybes.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Scott Bittle

Jean Johnson

Scott Bittle is the Director of Public Issues Analysis at Public Agenda. Bittle is the lead author of the Energy Learning Curve series of reports tracking public attitudes, knowledge, values and concerns about energy over time, released in association with Planet Forward, the innovative web-to-television project in which Bittle served as web site director.

Jean Johnson is the Director of Education Insights and Director of Programs at Public Agenda. Johnson has written articles for USA Today, Education Week and The Huffington Post. She has appeared on CNN, the Today Show, Lou Dobbs Tonight, and The O'Reilly Factor, among others.

Bittle and Johnson previously co-authored Where Does the Money Go?, a book designed to help typical Americans understand the debate over the federal budget and national debt.

INTERVIEWS & REVIEWS

Dr. Patrick E. Meyer, Ecolibris, Feb. 22, 2010

Forum on Science, Ethics & Policy, blog posting on AAAS presentations by Jean Johnson and Daniel Yankelovich, Feb. 19, 2010

Bill Moyers Journal, PBS interview with "Who Turned Out the Lights?" authors Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, Jan. 22, 2010

Lindsey Mason, The Layman's Guide to the Energy Crisis, Suite101.com, Jan. 14, 2010

THE ENERGY LEARNING CURVE

Big changes in behavior depend very much on whether people think they're a good idea. Energy policy's no exception: check out Public Agenda's Energy Learning Curve survey to find out what people know and believe about energy - information we'll all have to keep in mind as we consider new ways of doing things. Bonus: our Energy Quiz.

FAST FACTS ABOUT ENERGY

Ready to get involved in the debate on fueling our future? Get smart fast with Public Agenda's Fast Facts About Energy; the Citizen's Survival Kit guide to climate change; and our Energy & Environment Classroom Resources page.