Alternative Energy: Beyond Fossil Fuels.

Rau, Dana Meachen. Alternative Energy: Beyond Fossil Fuels.
Compass Point Books/Capstone 2010 64p 31.99 978-0-7565-4247-4 ms/hs
Green generation (Compass Point)

This book provides an overview of alternative energy sources, as well as other sustainable practices that will prolong the earth’s viability. This book does not take several very important points regarding energy into account . First of all, it states on page 9 that “at the rate we now use fossil fuels, scientists estimate that the world’s reserves will last 40 to 70 more years.”Objections to this statement -- (1) the rate at which the world is using fossil fuels is not constant, it is always increasing. (2) “scientists estimate” - which scientists? There is a lot of disagreement about how much fossil fuel remains in the earth. (3) there is no mention of the fact that once half of the fossil fuel has been removed from the earth, the other half that remains will be much more difficult to pump and to process, and at the same time, worldwide demand will be rising. In general, this book should be focusing more on the fact that the earth’s population is going to have to learn to live a different lifestyle, because we are in an age of declining fossil fuels. We are also going to destroy our climate if we don’t change our lifestyle pronto. No amount of alternative fuels will ever be able to substitute for the huge quantities of fossil fuels that we now burn every day. Kennedy, Carol