Acknowledgements & Useful Sources
Plagiarism is copying from one source, Research is copying from multiple sources. Since not much, if anything I write is original, here I will endeavour to acknowledge people and sources I find useful.
Vaclav Smill: Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (see books above)
Richard Heinberg: Our Renewable Future (and others, also on youtube)
Neil A C Hirst: (Imperial College London, UK): The Energy Conundrum
David MacKay FRS: was the Regius Professor of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. website, pdf and book
Nate Hagens: Professor of Ecological Economics at the University of Minnesota (example video) Neil A C Hirst: Imperial College London, UK): The Energy Conundrum
Mark P. Mills: extensive writing and research, one example: The “New Energy Economy” : An Exercise In Magical Thinking (pdf)
Roger Pielke Jr: University of Colorado – usually writes in Forbes
Simon Michaux: – Geol Survey of Finland. Oil from a Critical Raw Material Perspective (pdf here)
Gail Tverberg: Our Finite World website. Highly recommended.
Michael Shellenberger: is a Time Magazine “Hero of the Environment” and surprisingly an advocate of nuclear power. Equally unsurprisingly he is not loved by the environmental activists who oppose all things nuclear
WattLogic (Kathryn Porter): A very robust guide to all things electricity. Catchy articles like “Debunking energy myths: renewable electricity is not cheap“
Steve Keen: is an Australian economist and author, professor and Head of the School of Economics, History and Politics at Kingston University in London. (example video here)
Greg Epsein: The moral case for Fossil Fuels (book, youtube) – yes I know, including this will mean I am an “Oil Industry Lobbyist” with my head in the sand and my blinkers on… but it is an interesting position (that the focus is 100% on the negatives, but that there are many positives… not the least of which are massive improvements in human well-being)
Good Reading
The Bone Clocks
So from hard-core economics to… mainstream fiction. Not my cup-of-tea at all, but was recommended as the final section describes a dystopian future (2043). Pleasingly, this isn’t just sea-level rise and AGW , but a quite realistic vision of a world post the...
The End of Normal
James K Galbraith is an established academic, and is also the son of John Kenneth Galbraith This is a bit of a slog – it is very academic. Thesis is that post-war to 2008 GFC was one system, and that since then neither austerity or stimulus has been unable to prevent...
Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller
A product of the “Peak Oil” era, but still applies in a world post Peak Cheap-Oil. The description of a world in which we travel less, have less imported goods etc is linked to the reason for having Cider With Rosie in this list (above).
Cider With Rosie
You are probably wondering what this is doing here… “a wonderfully vivid memoir of childhood in a remote Cotswold village, a village before electricity or cars, a timeless place on the verge of change.” Published in 1959, it depicts life in the period just after the...
The Bottomless Well: The Twilight of Fuel
This dates form 2006, but is still a very useful source Again, well summarized on Amazon “The sheer volume of talk about energy, energy prices, and energy policy on both sides of the political aisle suggests that we must know something about these subjects. But...
Our Renewable Future: Laying the Path
Well summarized on Amazon “In Our Renewable Future, energy expert Richard Heinberg and scientist David Fridley explore the challenges and opportunities presented by the shift to renewable energy. The transition to clean energy will not be a simple matter of replacing...
Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air
A physicist/ecologist’s view on the challenges ahead. David MacKay sadly passed away in 2016, but has left this immensely useful summary of his research and thoughts on energy. This is available for free online here also as freely downloadable pdf (here)
Energy and Civilization: A History
The “go-to” text on how energy has created society. “To speak about energy and the economy is tautology” Looks like it may be out of print, so I am hanging onto my copy with glee.
Energy: A Beginner’s Guide
The first of several books by Vaclav Smil (Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada). Energy is a primer on what energy is and what it does. Sounds simple, but even just defining energy...
23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism
Not strictly related to my ideas on Energy and the Economy, but a through provoking series of essays challenging conventional wisdom on capitalism. This is not an ideological attack, indeed the author is pro-capitalism, but it addresses fundamental questions about...
Factfulness
My new, all-time, favourite. A genuinely original and smart framework for understanding the world. This is by Hans Rolsing, the guy you may know from the somewhat annoying TED talks using animated bubble-plots to show how various things have changed over time (life...
Accidentally Adamant
A very personal story of how an (accidental) environmentalist (Tisha Schuller) became CEO of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association (industry representation group). Personal trials and tribulations mingle with the brutal role as CEO of COGA in the peak anti-fracing...
A Question of Power
All books in this list are highly recommended – so no surprise that I love this one. Whilst I always see the world through the lens of oil and gas (as sources of primary energy) Robert Bryce sees the world through the lens of electricity – which is really just a...
Money Land
Do not read this book if you are feeling a bit “down” – this will push you into deep depression. The only comfort I got was that O&G is not the root of all evil. Smart (and negative-ethics) lawyers, accountants, politicians and middle-men clearly are. This deep...