"The Plot to Save the Planet" by Brian Dumaine (from Random House, Inc., 299 pages, hardcover, c. 2008, US$25.95).
This is an illuminating and inspiring look at the "conspiracy" to make green technology the Silicon Valley of the 21st century – the creator of massive numbers of jobs and huge amounts of wealth. Suddenly, the ugly mudslinging between environmentalists and big business has abated, and these two previously opposed forces are now strange bedfellows in a race to head off climate change.
How is this new frontier being shaped? Brian Dumaine is your guide in
this intriguing look into the very near future filled with colourful
and informative stories about the entrepreneurs, investors, and
corporate mavericks who are managing to pull off the feat of combining
economic growth and environmental protection to battle global warming.
You'll read about:
• The savvy investors: Why Warren Buffett is investing heavily in wind
power; and why John Doerr, the venture capitalist and early backer of
Google, is saying that "green tech is bigger than the Internet and
could be the biggest economic opportunity of the twenty-first
century."
• The cars of the future: The competitively priced plug-in hybrids
that will get 60 miles to the gallon, and the battle being waged by
fifteen start-ups competing to capture the electric car market.
• The fuels without fossils: New sources of energy from plants such as
prairie grass and algae that could capture a big chunk of the $300
billion U.S. wholesale gasoline market.
• The corporate mavericks: Companies such as Duke Energy and GE who
are creating the low-carbon business models of the future, as well as
cleaner ways to provide our power needs.
• The energy-miser homes and buildings: The new Bank of America Tower
in New York City and the green low- and middle-income homes being
constructed by visionaries who were told it couldn't be done and still
be affordable.
• The "thin film" solar energy: How it is making the cost of heating a
home comparable to traditional methods without emitting greenhouse
gas.
Plenty of obstacles still exist – among them resistance from the rich
and powerful owners of the world's oil supply, developing nations such
as China with their reliance on coal, and an American public reluctant
to give up their McMansions, SUVs, and extreme air-conditioning. But
the battle cry has been sounded. The green overhaul of the utility,
energy, construction, shipping, and automobile industries is well on
its way and – contrary to prevailing fears – the ultimate solutions
will sustain the environment without demanding huge sacrifices to our
contemporary comforts and lifestyles.