Energy 101: Decoding today's energy debate

  • Title:

    Abundant Energy
  • Format:

    Paperback
  • Paperback Price:

    9.95
  • Paperback ISBN:

    978-0-8447-7204-2
  • 120 Paperback pages
  • Buy the Book

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  • Energy 101: Decoding today's energy debate

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  • Energy: Why most of what you know is wrong [VIDEO]

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From the time we wake until the time we sleep, our consumption of energy is virtually seamless. Day or night, Americans can reliably cook food, light and heat their homes, receive entertainment and information, and travel to their destinations using safe energy supplies. ‘Energy 101’ is intended as a primer to help consumers understand the benefits of and challenges to energy access, security, and affordability, and to explain how energy policy ignites the fuel of human flourishing.



Energy: Why most of what you know is wrong
What does "energy" mean to you? In a world of fear-driven headlines, it often has a negative connotation. But energy isn't a problem, it's a solution. To understand today's debates over energy, we have to see energy not for what it is, but for what it does. It increases human mobility, opportunity, and wealth while reducing disease.
MORE: Energy abundance vs. the poverty of energy literacy ►


Horse sense: More than just oats fuel the power to move
The first energy breakthrough for humans after the discovery of fire was the harnessing of horsepower, but 200 horses can't gallop 60 mph in 10 seconds, and no amount of oats can get a horse to power a 747 jet plane.

FEATURED EVENT: Edison to Enron: Energy markets and political strategies ►


Supply and demand: What really drives the price of gas?
About 76 percent of the price of gasoline is a reflection of world prices. The rest is taxes, refinery costs, producers' and sellers' profit margins – and regulations that drive up prices. Is there a way to cut down on cost? Yes. We can start by removing barriers that make it difficult to deliver 50 kinds of boutique fuel blends between markets.

VIDEO: Will 2012 become the costliest year ever at the pump? ►
OUTLOOK: What drives gas prices: cartels, speculators, or supply and demand? ►


Energy poverty: How 'going green' pushes consumers into the red
Unequal access to electricity leaves an estimated 1.5 billion people around the globe in the dark each night, but the expensive green energy agenda means increasing energy poverty in America and the world. The higher costs of green fuels end up in household utility bills. That hurts lower-income families who are forced to pay a higher share of their wages on energy.

VIDEO: Why is ethanol raising the price of food and gas? ►


Security and independence: Not all energy is created equal
The US, Canada and Mexico are unlocking techniques for oil and gas production to serve our energy needs for hundreds of years. In the process, US energy companies employed nearly 1.3 million people and brought $40 billion to shareholders in 2011. As the US becomes more self-sufficient, security means interdependence since everyone benefits from energy trade.
 

Additional reading

Ken Green on The American ►
Ken Green on the blog ►

 

Homo sapiens or homo igniferens |

Dissecting the carbon tax
Energy abundance vs. the poverty of energy literacy
Government is a lousy venture capitalist
Not free to choose: The reality behind clean energy standards
Rotten wind in the state of Denmark
On green energy: Plainly not helping Spain
Green energy: Don't envy Germany
On green energy: Renewable energy fails to green the U.K. economy
On green energy: A Dutch (re)treat
A green future for just pennies a day?
Who should go first on greenhouse gas control
Is Canada's shift on climate change part of a larger trend?
Question & answer


Steve Hayward on The American ►
Steve Hayward on the blog ►

Double A energy policy

Two cheers for the Clean Air Act

Environmentalists as battered spouses
Unsettling the settled science
Q&A
Also Visit
AEIdeas Blog The American Magazine
About the Author

 

Kenneth P.
Green

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